Expression of AGR2 in non small cell lung cancer
F.R. Fritzsche1, E. Dahl2, A. Dankof1, M. Burkhardt1, S. Pahl1, I. Petersen1, M. Dietel1 and G. Kristiansen1
1Institute of Pathology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany and 2Institute of Pathology, University Hospital of the RWTH Aachen, Germany
Offprint requests to: Dr. Glen Kristiansen, MD, Institut für Pathologie, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Schumannstrasse 20-21, 10177 Berlin, Germany. e-mail: glen.kristiansen@charite.de
Summary. We aimed to evaluate immunohistochemically the expression of the human Anterior Gradient-2 (AGR2), a gene which has recently been proposed as an oncogene for lung carcinoma development, in non small cell lung cancer and to correlate the findings to clinico-pathological data including patient survival. 95 cases of NSCLC were immunostained using a polyclonal AGR2 antibody and statistical analyses were applied to test for prognostic and diagnostic associations. AGR2 was expressed in 66.3% of cases, preferentially adenocarcinomas. There were no relevant associations with clinico-pathological paramaters. A prognostic value of AGR2 could not be demonstrated neither in multivariate nor in univariate analyses. Interestingly, this is the first study to demonstrate AGR2 expression in squamous cell carcinomas. Although a prognostic value of AGR2 seems unlikely further studies are warranted to investigate the biological role of AGR2 in NSCLC and its differential expression according to histology. Histol Histopathol 22, 703-708 (2007)
Key words: Lung cancer, NSCLC, AGR2, Prognosis, Immunohistochemistry
DOI: 10.14670/HH-22.703