Clinical behavior of small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Introduction: Lung Cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States and Western Europe. Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for up to 13% of all newly diagnosed lung cancers. The knowledge of factors that could predict the clinical outcome of patients with SCLC is important for guiding treatment and to determining prognosis. Imunohistochemical study by the analysis and characterization of markers involved in SCLC could improve the knowledge of prognostic factors. The purpose of this article is to investigate the prognostic value of six Imunohistochemical Markers in patients with SCLC diagnosis: Chromogranin A (Chromo A), Cytokeratin 7 (CK7), Thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1), Neural cell adhesion molecule/CD56, Ki-67 (MIB1) and High weight cytokeratin (LP34). Material and Methods: Patients had a histological confirmed small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) diagnosed at our University Hospital between February 2002 and December of 2008 and a total of 100 cases (13 women, 87 men) were selected for this study. Results: The mean survival of all patients was 274 days (9months), and median was 183 days (6months). The survival mean for LD-SCLC was 482 days (16months, with a 95% Confidence Interval from 10 months to 22 months) and 182 days for ED-SCLC (6months, with a 95% Confidence Interval from 4 months to 8 months). The patients showed a significant meaning in Chromo A curves isolated, with a mean of Survival with the group expressing A of 6,7 months and 11 months in the group 3 expressing B. Tumors that expressed Chromo A (B) & CD56 (A) had the best prognosis with a survival mean of 726 days (24,2months) against 234 days (7,8 months). The worst prognosis was for the combination of CD56 (B) + Ki67 (B) with a survival mean of 6 months against 11 months for the rest of the patients. Conclusion: Based on those considerations, we hypothesize that Chromo A isolated could be a prognostic factor of survival. Patients that show Chromo A (B) & CD56 (A) had a very good prognosis with a mean of survival of 726 days. On other hand, patients that show CD56 (B) + Ki67 (B) had a poor prognosis with a mean of survival of 6 months