Expressions of osteopontin (OPN), ανI23 and Pim-1 associated with poor prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

To examine the expressions of osteopontin (OPN), and Pim-1 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and investigate their potential pathogenic roles in the development of NSCLC. Immunohistochemistry was used to examine the expressions of OPN, and Pim-1 in cohort (136 cases) of NSCLC samples and their adjacent normal lung tissue specimens. Statistical analysis was performed to evaluate the relationships among expressions of OPN, and Pim-1 and their associations with patients clinico-pathological parameters. The expressions of OPN and Pim-1 were predominantly observed in cytoplasm. The expression of was mostly detected in cytoplasm and/or membrane. In NSCLC samples, the positive rates of OPN, and Pim-1 expressions were 68.4% (93/136), 77.2% (105/136) and 57.4% (78/136), respectively. In normal lung tissues, in contrast, the positive rates of OPN, and Pim-1 were 24.0% (12/50), 26.0% (13/50) and 16.0% (8/50), respectively. There were significant differences of the positive expression rates of OPN, and Pim-1 between NSCLCs samples and normal lung tissues (P < 0.01). In addition, the positive expression of OPN, and Pim-1 in NSCLCs samples was significantly associated with increased pathological grade, lymph node metastasis and advanced clinical stage (P < 0.01), and they were independent of other clinicopathological parameters (P > 0.05). Furthermore, a significantly positive correlation between the expression of OPN and (r=0.38, P < 0.01), OPN and Pim-1 (r=0.37, P < 0.01), or and Pim-1 (r=0.20, P < 0.05) was evaluated in our NSCLC cohort. OPN, and Pim-1 proteins are frequently overexpressed in NSCLC, and they may play important roles in the development and/or progression of NSCLC.