Clinicopathological significance of non-small cell lung cancer with high prevalence of Oct-4 tumor cells

Background: expression of the stem cell marker octamer 4 (oct-4) in various neoplasms has been previously reported,but very little is currently known about the potential function of oct-4 in this setting. the purpose of this study was to assess the prognostic value of oct-4 expression after surgery in primary non-small cell lung cancer (nsclc) and investigate its possible molecular mechanism. methods. we measured oct-4 expression in 113 nsclc tissue samples and three cell lines by immunohistochemical staining and rt-pcr. the association of oct-4 expression with demographic characteristics,proliferative marker ki67,microvessel density (mvd),and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (vegf) were assessed. results: oct-4 expression was detected in 90.3% of samples and was positively correlated with poor differentiation and adenocarcinoma histology,and oct-4 mrna was found in each cell lines detected. overexpression of oct-4 had a strong association with cells proliferation in all cases,mvd-negative,and vegf-negative subsets. a kaplan-meier analysis showed that overexpression of oct-4 was associated with shorter overall survival in all cases,adenocarcinoma,squamous cell carcinoma,mvd-negative,and vegf-negative subsets. a multivariate analysis demonstrated that oct-4 level in tumor tissue was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival in all cases,mvd-negative,and vegf-negative subsets. conclusion: our findings suggest that,even in the context of vulnerable mvd status and vegf expression,overexpression of oct-4 in tumor tissue represents a prognostic factor in primary nsclc patients. oct-4 may maintain nsclc cells in a poorly differentiated state through a mechanism that depends on promoting cell proliferation. © 2012 chen et al; licensee biomed central ltd.