Purpose: Retinoic acid inducible protein 3 (RAI3) has been suggested as prognostic biomarker in several cancer types. The present study aimed to examine the role of RAI3 expression in non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs).
Methods: RAI3 protein expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in tissue microarray (TMA) sections from a retrospective cohort of more than 600 surgically resected NSCLCs and results were compared with clinicopathological features and follow-up data.
Results: While membranous RAI3 immunostaining was always strong in benign lung, strong RAI3 staining was only detectable in 14.7% of 530 interpretable NSCLCs. Within NSCLC subtypes, immunostaining intensity for RAI3 was significantly decreased in large cell lung cancers (LCLCs) and squamous cell carcinomas (SQCCs) relative to lung adenocarcinomas (LUACs) (P < 0.0001 each). However, RAI3 staining was neither associated with pathological features of NSCLCs nor with survival of patients (P = 0.6915).
Conclusion: Our study shows that RAI3 expression was not associated with clinical outcomes of NSCLC patients and cannot be considered as prognostic marker in lung cancer patients.
Keywords: Immunohistochemistry; Large cell lung carcinoma; Lung adenocarcinoma; Non-small cell lung cancer; RAI3; Squamous cell lung carcinoma.
© 2023. The Author(s).