Mitochondrial DNA mutation correlates with stage progression and prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer

✍ Scribed by Wataru Matsuyama; Masanori Nakagawa; Joeji Wakimoto; Yasunobu Hirotsu; Masaharu Kawabata; Mitsuhiro Osame

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 88 KB
• Volume: 21
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1059-7794
• DOI: 10.1002/humu.10196

✦ Synopsis

The optimal management of patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) depends on the accuracy of appropriate staging strategies. The best approach for clinical staging, especially the evaluation of lymph node metastasis, continues to confound clinicians. A specific, less-invasive method to support preoperative stage evaluation is required. Recently, Fliss et al. [2000] reported a high frequency of mitochondria DNA (mtDNA) mutation in NSCLC. MtDNA is preferentially modified by many carcinogens and is repaired less efficiently compared with that of nuclear DNA [Khrapko et al., 1997]. We speculated an association between mtDNA mutation and NSCLC exists and, therefore, sequenced the mtDNA of tumor cells from NSCLC patients.

This study was reviewed and approved by the Kagoshima University Faculty of Medicine Committee on Human Research.

We prospectively investigated 202 NSCLC patients (adenocarcinoma, 106; squamous cell carcinoma, 86; bronchoalveolar carcinoma, 4; large cell carcinoma, 6), including 119 men and 83 women whose mean age was 63.2716.3 years. The diagnosis of lung cancer for all patients was confirmed by the histological examinations of biopsied specimens. Staging was based on the new international staging system [Mountain, 1997]. The final staging diagnosis was based on the pathological findings at surgery, open lung biopsy, or mediastinoscopy. Thirty-two patients were classified as stage IA, 16 patients as stage IB, 18 patients as stage IIA, 11 patients as stage IIB, 61 patients as stage IIIA, 45 patients as stage IIIB, and 17 patients were diagnosed as stage IV. Patients with other malignant tumors and neuromuscular diseases that were associated with mtDNA mutations were excluded.