The Expression of TUCAN, an Inhibitor of Apoptosis Protein, in Patients with Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Treated with Chemotherapy

• Published in: Anticancer research Vol. 26; no. 5B; pp. 3819 - 3824
• Main Authors: CHECINSKA, Agnieszka, OUDEJANS, Joost J, SPAN, Simone W, RODRIGUEZ, Jose A, KRUYT, Frank A. E, GIACCONE, Giuseppe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Attiki International Institute of Anticancer Research 01-09-2006
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - drug therapy; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - metabolism; CARD Signaling Adaptor Proteins - metabolism; Female; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Lung Neoplasms - drug therapy; Lung Neoplasms - metabolism; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Proteins - metabolism; Pneumology; Prognosis; Subcellular Fractions - metabolism; Tumors; Tumors of the respiratory system and mediastinum; Antineoplastic agent; Human; Immunohistochemistry; Lung disease; NSCLC; Respiratory disease; Lung cancer; Malignant tumor; non-small cell lung carcinoma; Cisplatin; Resistance; chemotherapy resistance; Alkylating agent; Anatomic pathology; Chemotherapy; Cancerology; Treatment; Apoptosis inhibitory protein; Bronchus disease; Advanced stage; Platinum II Complexes
• ISSN: 0250-7005; 1791-7530

Background: TUCAN is a caspase recruitment domain (CARD)-containing protein involved in tumor biology by regulating apoptosis
and the NFκB pathway. Inhibition of caspase-9 may cause drug resistance. The pattern of expression, localization and prognostic
value of TUCAN in the tumors of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with chemotherapy were assessed in
this study. Materials and Methods: Using immunohistochemistry, the expression and localization of TUCAN was evaluated in forty-nine
tumor specimens from patients with NSCLC who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy (32 stage IIB or IIIA), or palliative chemotherapy
(17 stage IIIB or IV). The correlation between TUCAN expression and subcellular localization, major patient characteristics,
response to the treatment and overall survival were assessed. Results: TUCAN expression was detectable in 34 out of 49 (69%)
tumor specimens. Among the positively-stained specimens, three patterns of localization were observed: 5 samples (11%) showed
exclusive nuclear localization, 13 samples (27%) contained only cytoplasmic staining and 15 (31%) showed both cytoplasmic
and nuclear localization. There was no significant correlation between the localization of TUCAN and response to chemotherapy.
Although TUCAN expression was not correlated with outcome, interestingly, exclusive cytoplasmic localization of TUCAN predicted
shorter survival (p=0.027). Conclusion: Our results suggest that differential localization of TUCAN may be a prognostic factor
for NSCLC, despite the lack of predictive value for response to chemotherapy.