Expression of Hepatoma-Derived Growth Factor Is a Strong Prognostic Predictor for Patients With Early-Stage Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Purpose Hepatoma-derived growth factor (HDGF), which is unrelated to hepatocyte growth factor, can stimulate DNA synthesis and cell proliferation on entering the nucleus. We hypothesize that HDGF plays an important role in biologic behavior of early-stage non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients and Methods Ninety-eight patients with pathologic stage I NSCLC who underwent curative surgery were studied. Immunohistochemistry was used to determine the expression level of HDGF in the tumor specimens. The intensity of the protein staining and percentage of stained tumor cells were used to determine a labeling index. Statistical analyses, all two-sided, were performed to determine the prognostic effect of HDGF expression levels on clinical parameters and outcomes. Results The mean ± standard deviation HDGF labeling index in the 98 tumors was 185 ± 41. Patients whose tumors had higher HDGF indexes (≥ 185) had a significantly poorer probability of overall survival at 5 years after surgery than did those with ...