The expression of the oncogenes c-fos, c-jun, c-myc, c-erbB-1 and c-erbB-2 at the protein level was analyzed in squamous cell lung carcinomas of 121 patients by means of immunohistochemistry. Patients with overexpression of proteins encoded by the oncogenes c-fos, c-jun and c-erbB-1 had significantly shorter survival times than these without overexpression of these oncogene products (c-fos: p = 0.009; c-jun: p = 0.029; c-erbB-1: p = 0.018). No significant correlations were found between the expression of c-myc and c-erbB-2 products and the survival of the patients. In addition to the univariate analyses (Kaplan-Meier-estimates) multivariate analyses (Cox-regression-model) revealed that protein expression of the oncogenes c-fos, c-jun and c-erbB-1 are significant prognostic factors in addition to staging.

Non-small cell lung carcinoma specimens of 173 previously untreated patients were analyzed for the expression of proteins encoded by the oncogenes c-myc, c-fos, c-jun, c-erbB-1, c-erbB-2, c-H-ras, c-K-ras and c-N-ras. Forty-six per cent of the tumors were positive for the c-MYC protein, 60% for c-FOS, 50% for c-JUN, 80% for c-ERBB-1, 55% for c-ERBB-2, 12% for c-H-RAS, 5% for c-K-RAS and 71% for c-N-RAS. Proteins encoded by c-fos and c-jun are overexpressed more frequently in carcinomas of smokers (c-fos: P < 0.005; c-jun: P < 0.01). When we grouped the patients according to their tumor histology the results became more evident. Squamous cell lung carcinomas of smokers showed a higher incidence of c-FOS (P = 0.01), c-JUN (P < 0.01) and c-ERBB-1 (P = 0.01) proteins than squamous cell lung carcinomas of non-smokers. The expression rate and the intensity of staining proved not to be influenced either by the number of cigarettes smoked daily or by cessation of smoking. In adenocarcinomas, however, we only found a trend for a more frequent overexpression of c-fos (P = 0.07) and c-jun (P = 0.14) encoded proteins in carcinomas of smokers and no correlation between the expression of c-erbB-1 products and smoking. No correlation was found between the expression of c-MYC, c-ERBB-2, c-H-RAS, c-K-RAS and c-N-RAS proteins and the smoking habits of the patients, neither in squamous cell carcinomas nor in adenocarcinomas of the lung.

In the current study the relationship between the incidence of metastatic spread and expression (at the protein level) of various proto-oncogenes was investigated in 217 human non-small cell lung carcinomas. Tumors with an overexpression of proteins encoded by the oncogenes c-jun and c-myc showed a significantly increased formation of metastases (c-jun: P = 0.008; c-myc: P = 0.018). No significant correlations were found between the expression of the c-fos, c-erbB1, c-neu and c-ras products and metastatic spread.