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

Abstract

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.

Aberrant expression and significance of OCT-4A transcription factor in leukemia cells

“…Interestingly, our results showed no correlation between the expression levels of OCT-4 and WBC count, implying that the OCT-4 expression cells are the leukemia stem/progenitor cells. These data seem consistent with the recent finding that Oct-4 maintains nonsmall cell lung cancer cells in a poorly differentiated state through a mechanism that depends on promoting cell proliferation [3].…”

PRDX6 promotes tumor development via the JAK2/STAT3 pathway in a urethane-induced lung tumor model

“…Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide [1]. Lung cancer is often diagnosed at an advanced stage accompanied by extensive invasion and metastasis [2].…”

A bilateral primary yolk sac tumor of the lung associated with chromosome 3 polysomy

“…Although Oct-4 has been shown to be expressed in adenocarcinoma of the lung, the absence of CK7/20 staining suggests against the lung being the primary. 4,5 Another possibility could be that the tumor arose from a cancer stem cell. Kim and colleagues had reported the identification of bronchioalveolar stem cells in normal and cancerous lungs.…”