Clinical and Prognostic Significance of CD117 in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Systemic Meta-Analysis

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the relationship of cluster of differentiation 117 (CD117) expression with the clinicopathological characteristics and the prognosis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). No meta-analysis concerning the correlation of CD117 expression with clinical and prognostic values of the patients with NSCLC is reported. A systematic literature search was conducted to achieve eligible studies. The combined odds ratios (ORs) or hazard ratios (HRs: multivariate Cox analysis) with their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated in this analysis. Final 17 eligible studies with 4,893 NSCLC patients using immunohistochemical detection were included in this meta-analysis. CD117 expression was not correlated with gender (male vs. female), clinical stage (stages 3–4 vs. stages 1–2), tumor grade (grade 3 vs. grades 1–2), T-stage (T-stages 3–4 vs. T-stages 0–2), distal metastasis, and disease-free survival (DFS) of NSCLC (all <i>p</i> values >0.05). CD117 expression was associated with lymph node metastasis (positive vs. negative: OR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.56–0.97, <i>p</i> = 0.03), histological type (adenocarcinoma (AC) versus squamous cell carcinoma (SCC): OR = 1.74, 95% CI = 1.26–2.39, <i>p</i> = 0.001), and a worse overall survival (OS) (HR = 1.89, 95% CI = 1.22–2.92, <i>p</i> = 0.004). The expression of CD117 was significantly higher in AC than in SCC. CD117 may be an independent prognostic indicator for worse OS in NSCLC.

Circulating tumor cells dynamics during chemotherapy predict survival and response in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer patients

“…KIT or CD117 is one of embryonic stem cell surface markers and its expression in NSCLC tissue may be an independent prognostic indicator for worse OS in NSCLC. 23 In this study, prevalence of KIT-positive CTC was relatively low in the whole process of chemotherapy, probably owing to minority of stem cell in NSCLC. Detection rate of KIT-positive CTC at baseline was predictive of prognosis.…”

“… 19 KIT expression was found to be significantly higher in adenocarcinoma than in squamous cell carcinoma, and associated with lymph node metastasis and poor prognosis. 23 …”

Evaluating the Histologic Grade of Digital Squamous Cell Carcinomas in Dogs and Copy Number Variation of KIT Ligand—A Correlation Study

“…Currently, there are few studies investigating the molecular expression of KITLG and c-KIT in veterinary medicine, mostly in canine mast cell tumors [ 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ] and gastrointestinal stromal tumors [ 42 , 43 , 44 ], with no descriptions of specific immunolabeling in canine SCC or DSCC. In human medicine, there have been attempts to perform immunohistochemistry for c-KIT on SCC [ 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ]. In the literature, there are reports that between 12.5% and 20% [ 45 , 46 , 47 , 50 ] of SCCs have any kind of sparse immunopositivity.…”

“…In a single study, the expression of c-KIT in esophageal SCC was correlated with a worse prognosis, only being expressed in 29.9% of the specimens [ 48 ]. In a similar manner, c-KIT expression was associated with lymph node metastasis, histological type, and worse overall survival in human non-small cell lung cancer, according to a meta-analysis [ 49 ]. Interestingly enough, in this study, the expression of c-KIT in adenocarcinoma was higher than in SCC [ 49 ], perhaps associated with innate tumor malignancy and aggressiveness.…”

“…In a similar manner, c-KIT expression was associated with lymph node metastasis, histological type, and worse overall survival in human non-small cell lung cancer, according to a meta-analysis [ 49 ]. Interestingly enough, in this study, the expression of c-KIT in adenocarcinoma was higher than in SCC [ 49 ], perhaps associated with innate tumor malignancy and aggressiveness. This, however, was beyond the scope of the present study and future projects may include these further tests.…”