Objective: To observe the relationship among Lung cancer cell apoptosis, proliferation and related gene expression and its significance as an index of prognosis.
Method: In situ end labelling (ISEL) technique and DNA gel electrophoresis were used to detect the apoptotic cell, immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of bcl-2, P53 and ki-67 in 57 cases of Lung cancer.
Result: The number of apoptotic cells was found to correlated with the ratio of ki-67 positive cell (P = 0.001). There was significant correlation between the extent of apoptosis and the expression of bcl-2 in SCLC, but this relation was not observed in NSCLC. No correlation was found among apoptotic cells or ki-67 positive cells, staging, age and expression of P53. Patients with apoptotic cells greater than 3% and ki-67 greater than 20% possessed shorter survival time than that less than or equal to 3% or 20%, respectively (P = 0.0057, P = 0.002 by log ronk).
Conclusions: Increased apoptotic and proliferous cells are independent prognostic index in lung cancers, predicting shortened survival time of the patients.