p73 gene protein expression in lung cancer as related to clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis in the elderly

Objective To study the expression of p73 gene in lung cancer and tumorigenesis, progression of lung cancer in the elderly. Methods The expression of p73 protein in 65 cases of lung cancer, adjacent tissues of cancer and normal tissues was determined by immunohistochemical SABC method. The results were analysed by combining the clinicopathological data and the prognosis. Results The results showed (1)the expression level of p73 protein in the cancer group was significantly different from the rest groups(47 7%,9 2%,4 6%, P 0 05).(2)the p73 protein expression was not correlated with age,cancer type and grade of the tumor( P 0 05),but it was correlated with the clinical stage (60 5%,22 7%) and survival time of the patients (72 2%,16 0%, P 0 05). Conclusions The p73 protein expression in the elderly was the same as that in the none,and there was overexpression of p73 protein in lung cancer tissues of the elderly and none,so it was valuable to study the expression of p73 gene in tumorigenesis and progression of lung cancer. The expression of p73 protein was used as an useful marker of the biological behavior of lung cancer and as an independent prognosis factor for the patients with lung cancer in the elderly.