Abbreviations used: ADC -adenocarcinoma; CDK2 -cyclin-dependent kinase 2; cDNAcomplementary DNA; COX-2 -cyclooxygenase 2; C T -cycle threshold; DNAdeoxyribonucleic acid; GAPDH -glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; hTERThuman telomerase reverse transcriptase; IHC -immunohistochemistry; LATS2 -homolog of large tumour suppressor 2, Drosophilae; LCC -large cell carcinoma; MDM2 -mouse double minute 2 homolog; mRNA -messenger RNA; NSCLC -non-small cell lung cancer; p21 -cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A; p53 -tumour protein p53; PCR -polymerase chain reaction; pTNM -pathological tumour-node-metastasis; RB -retinoblastoma; RNAribonucleic acid; r s -Spearman's rank correlation coefficient; RT-PCR -real time PCR; S100A2 -S100 calcium binding protein A2; SCC -squamous cell carcinoma , we analysed the expression of the COX-2, hTERT, MDM2, LATS2 and S100A2 genes and researched the relationships between the NSCLC types and the differences in expression levels. The differences in the expression levels of the LATS2, S100A2 and hTERT genes in different types of NSCLC are significant. hTERT and COX-2 were over-expressed and LATS2 under-expressed in all NSCLC. We also detected significant relative differences in the expression of LATS2 and MDM2, hTERT and MDM2 in different types of NSCLC. There was a significant difference in the average expression levels in S100A2 for ADC and SCC. Our study shows differences in the expression patterns within the NSCLC group, which may mimic the expression of the individual NSCLC type, and also new relationships in the expression levels for different NSCLC types.