Expression of MTA1 protein in small cell lung cancer and its correlation with chemotherapy sensitivity and prognosis

CHEN Yitian; XU Yichen; TAO Leilei; YIN Honglin; YU Bo; CHEN Longbang

Abstract：Objective To detect the expression of metastasis-associated-gene 1( MTA1) protein in tissues of small cell lung cancer( SCLC ) and explore the role of MTA1 in metastasis, prognosis and chemotherapy sensitivity of SCLC. Methods The expression of MTA1 was detected in 52 non-distal metastatic SCLC tissues by immunohistochemical staining. The results were divided into low-level expression(≤6) and high-level expression(>6) according to the immunohistochemical staining counting method. The re-lationships between expression of MTA1 and clinicopathological characteristics, efficacy of EP regimen( etoposide 100mg/m2 iv, d1-d5;cisplatin 60mg/m2 iv d1;3-week cycle for 4-6 cycles) and prognosis were investigated. Results Thirty-seven SCLC tissues were found of high-level MTA1 expression( 71.2%) , while MTA1 was expressed at a low-level in all 18 adjacent tissues. There were significant correlations between the expression of MTA1 and tumor size, TNM stage, lymph node metastasis and vascular invasion( P<0.05) . No significant correlation existed between the expression of MTA1 and gender, age, VALG stage and tumor sites( P>0.05) . The low-level expression group was more sensitive to EP chemotherapy than the high-level expression group( 80.0% vs. 54.1%, P=0.020) . The me-dian progression-free survival and overall survival of the low-level expression group were superior to those of the high-level expression group(20 months vs. 8 months, 33 months vs. 18 months) with statistical significance(P<0.05). Conclusion MTA1 is highly ex-pressed in SCLC tissue, and is closely correlated with tumor metastasis, drug resistance and prognosis.