Expression and clinical significance of Oct-4 and E-cad in non-small-cell lung cancer

Abstract

Non-small-lung cancer (NSCLC) is a common malignant tumor and is a leading cause of cancer mortality. Tumor stem cells are associated with tumor pathogenesis and development as well as invastion and metastasis. In the present study, the expression and correlation of tumor stem cell markers, octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (Oct-4) and E-cadherin (E-cad) in NSCLC and normal lung tissue were investigated. Additionally, the molecular mechanisms of invasion and metastasis of NSCLC were assessed. The expression of Oct-4 and E-cad was examined in 65 pathologically diagnosed cases of NSCLC using immunohistochemistry. The correlation between Oct-4 and E-cad, as well as the association with pathological grade and clinical staging were also analyzed. Fifteen cases of normal lung tissues served as the control. The positive expression of Oct-4 and abnormal expression of E-cad was higher in the NSCLC tissue compared to the normal lung tissue, and increased as NSCLC malignancy increased. The differences in each grade each stage were statistically significant (P<0.05). A correlation was identified between the abnormal expression of Oct-4 and E-cad (P<0.05, coefficient of contingency C=0.439). In conclusion, the expression of Oct-4 promoted the epithelial-mesenchymal transition in lung cancer.

Clinicopathological and prognostic significance of Oct-4 expression in patients with non-small cell lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Then, we further excluded three of them from the qualitative synthesis because that IHC was not used for Oct-4 staining in these studies (30)(31)(32). Therefore, the remaining 16 articles met all of the eligibility criteria and were finally included into our meta-analysis (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41).…”

“…A total of 21 retrospective observational studies were reported from these articles, including 13 studies investigating the association between Oct-4 expression and clinicopathological characteristics of NSCLC (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(33)(34)(35)(36)(38)(39)(40)(41) and 8 studies evaluating the prognostic value of Oct-4 expression for OS in patients with NSCLC (13,(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)37,40). They enrolled a total of 1,363 NSCLC patients from China mainland (n=1,092, ratio =80.1%) (13)(14)(15)(16)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41) and Taiwan (n=271, ratio =19.9%) (17)(18)(19). Because the histological subtypes of NSCLC were not clearly reported in some studies (14,37,40), the number of AC cases and SCC cases was unable to be calculated.…”

“…They enrolled a total of 1,363 NSCLC patients from China mainland (n=1,092, ratio =80.1%) (13)(14)(15)(16)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41) and Taiwan (n=271, ratio =19.9%) (17)(18)(19). Because the histological subtypes of NSCLC were not clearly reported in some studies (14,37,40), the number of AC cases and SCC cases was unable to be calculated. IHC was commonly used for Oct-4 staining in paraffin-embedded specimens but cut-off values and positive-staining sites varied a lot across the included studies (Table S4).…”

“…To evaluate the association between Oct-4 expression and clinicopathological characteristics of NSCLC, all of the relevant 13 included studies reported the demographics but none of them published any statistic from multivariate analysis (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(33)(34)(35)(36)(38)(39)(40)(41). Therefore, the incorporative ORs were commonly extrapolated from the reported demographic details, which were derived from the univariate analysis (Table S4).…”

“…However, the integrated details of NSCLC are not separately reported in this study. Some controversies still exist on the relationship between Oct-4 expression and major clinicopathological characteristics of NSCLC, such as differentiation degree, TNM stage and lymphatic metastasis (13)(14)(15)(16)(17). Moreover, the previously published survival data correlated with Oct-4 expression in NSCLC have not been systematically reviewed until now.…”