[Study on the transcript expression of p73 gene in human non-small cell lung cancer tissues.].

BACKGROUND: To explore the relationship among the p73 gene transcript expression and the oncogenesis , development of human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) . METHODS: The expression of p73 mRNA was detected in 32 human NSCLC tissues , para-cancer tissues , 7 lung benign lesion tissues and matched non-cancer lung tissues by semiquantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) . RESULTS: Overexpression of p73 mRNA was found in 28/ 32 NSCLC tissues. The positive expression rate of the p73 mRNA in the cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in the para-cancer tissues and benign lesion tissues either ( P < 0. 01) . No significant relationship was observed among p73 expression and differentiated grades , histoclassification and P-TNM stages of the cancer ( P > 0. 05) . CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that there is an overexpression of p73 mRNA in lung cancer tissues and it may paly an important role in the tumorigenesis and development in NSCLC.