ALDH7A1 expression is associated with recurrence in patients with surgically resected non-small-cell lung carcinoma

Aim: The purpose of this study was to describe the prognostic significance of ALDH7A1 in surgically treated non-small-cell lung carcinoma. (NSCLC). Materials & methods: We immunohistochemically analyzed ALDH7A1 expression in surgically resected NSCLC from 89 patients using a tissue microarray. Results: ALDH7A1 staining was positive in 43 patients and negative in 44 patients, with two tumor sections missing. For stage I NSCLC patients, ALDH7A1 positivity was associated with decreased recurrence-free and overall survival. Multivariate ana-lysis demonstrated that ALDH7A1-expressing NSCLC tumors had a significantly higher incidence of lung cancer recurrence compared with patients with ALDH7A1-negative tumors, although there was no association with overall survival. Conclusion: For patients with NSCLC, low ALDH7A1 expression was associated with a decreased incidence of cancer recurrence. Specifically in stage I patients, negative staining for ALDH7A1 was associated with improved recurrence-free and overall survival, suggesting a predictive role in surgically treated patients.