Expression status of folate receptor α (FOLR1) and reduced folate carrier (RFC1) can predict clinical outcome in non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC).

2694 Purpose: The folate receptor α (FOLR1) and the reduced folate carrier 1 (RFC1) are well-characterized folate transporters. FOLR1 and RFC1 are highly expressed in the lung. Furthermore, FOLR1 is highly expressed in some solid epithelial tumors, such as mesothelioma and adenocarcinoma of the lung. It may be leading to the development of diagnostic agents and therapy target at FOLR1 or RFC1 overexpressing tumors, but no clinical study on RFC1 expression and only one clinical study on FOLR1 expression in non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been reported, which showed by immunohistochemistry. The purpose of this study is to evaluate prognostic significance of FOLR1 expression and RFC1 expression in completely resected NSCLC. Patients and methods : We quantitatively examined gene expression of the FOLR1 and RFC1 in surgical specimens resected from NSCLC patients. A total of 119 consecutive patients with NSCLC who underwent resection at our institute, from January 2003 to June 2004 were included in this study. Results : In adenocarcinoma, the FOLR1 gene expression was down-regulated in smokers and male patients (P = 0.006 and P Conclusion : The higher levels of FOLR1 appear to be associated with better prognosis of the patients in lung adenocarcinoma.