Objective: To explore the association between XAGE-1b gene expression and the clinical characteristics of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Methods: Tumor tissue and adjacent normal lung tissue specimens were obtained surgically from 30 patients with resectable NSCLC, from which the total RNA was extracted for RT-PCR to amplify full-length XAGE-1b gene. The products of RT-PCR were identified by electrophoresis and sequencing. The expression of XAGE-1b gene and its association with the clinical characteristics of the patients were analyzed.
Results: In the 30 tumor tissue specimens, the expression rate of XAGE-1b gene was 40%, but none of the normal lung tissues expressed this gene. The gene expression was not related to the patients' age, gender, tumor differentiation or clinical stages, but showed significant correlation to their pathological classification. The expression rate of XAGE-1b gene in adenocarcinoma was much higher than that in tumors of other pathological types (61.1% vs 8.3%, P=0.015). XAGE-1b gene expression tended to increase with the TNM stages, which, however, failed to find statistical data support (P>0.05).
Conclusions: XAGE-1b gene is highly expressed in lung adenocarcinoma, and can be an ideal target for tumor immunotherapy.