Expression of Coxsackievirus and Adenovirus Receptor in Human Lung Cancer: Possible Clinical Significance

OBJECTIVE To explore the relationship between CAR and the development of human lung cancer, as well as to provide the basis for the clinical treatment of lung cancer using an adenovirus vector-based gene therapy. METHODS CAR expression was assessed immunohisto-chemically in tumoral, paraneoplastic and normal samples from 112 lung cancer patients. At the same time, the mRNA and protein expression of CAR in 32 cases were determined by RT-PCR and Western blot. The relationship between CAR expression and clinicopathologic parameters was statistically analyzed. RESULTS There was no expression of CAR in normal lung tissue but a little in paraneoplastic tissue. The positive rate was 43% in squamous cell carcinoma, and 70% in adenocarcinoma. Both were much significantly higher than that in paraneoplastic tissue. The CAR expression level in adenocarcinoma was higher than that in squamous cell cancer. mRNA expression by RT-PCR and protein expression by Western blot were consistent with immunohistochemistry results. CONCLUSION CAR is overexpressed in human lung cancer, especially in adenocarcinoma. This data offer the reliable basis for adenovirus-mediated gene therapy of lung cancer; more important, CAR may take part in the formation or development of lung cancer; this may be exploitable for the development of antibody-directed therapy in human lung cancer.