Expression of CD44 gene in non-small cell lung cancer tissue and relationship with prognosis

Objective To study the expression of CD44 gene in non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) tissue and the relationship with prognosis.Methods The expressions of CD44 gene in 36 specimens from 36 patients with NSCLC were determined by RT-PCR and all the patients were followed up for 3 years.Results CD44 gene was excessively expressed in 21 of 36 specimens of NSCLC tissues,excessive expression rate was 58.3%.The expression of CD44 mRNA in NSCLC tissue was related to metastasis of lymph node(χ2 =9.787,P0.01),not related to age,sex,histological types,pathological grades,TNM stages,tumor size of the patients.Kaplan-Meier survival curve showed that the survial rate of CD44-positive NSCLC tissue was lower than that in CD44-negative NSCLC tissue(χ2=5.9116,P0.05).Conclusion The rate of lymph node metastasis is high in NSCLC patients with CD44 gene excessive expression. The detection of CD44 gene expression can guide the prognosis,radiotherapy and chemotherapy of patients with NSCLC after operation.