Molecular markers expression in mediastinal nodes from resected stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): Prognostic impact and potential role as markers of occult micrometastasis

21016 Background: 5-y surv in surgically resected St I NSCLC is 60–70% whereas in cases with affected lymph nodes (LN) it is < 50%. The main risk factor for recurrence is nodal disease. Current histopathologic analysis can miss occult micrometastases in nodal tissues at initial diagnosis. Detection of micromets with a more sensitive technique would be useful to define a high-risk population selecting patients (p) for postop treatment. We assessed the role of several genes mRNA expression in pathological negative LN from resected St I NSCLC p as markers of occult micromets and correlated the results with relapse, and survival. Methods: Paired tumor and histological negative LN (n=344) obtained by systematic mediastinal lymphadenectomy from 38 surgically resected St I NSCLC p were analyzed for the presence of 12 genes mRNA expression using RT-Q-PCR in an ABIPRISM 7500. RNA was extracted using ABIPRISM 6100. Specifically designed primers and probes were purchased from Applied Biosystems as Assay-on-demand; G...