Ornithine decarboxylase mRNA expression in curatively resected non-small-cell lung cancer

The effect of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) on the pathogenesis of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains poorly investigated. Hence, the aim of this study was to explore the potential role of ODC mRNA expression as a prognostic biomarker in patients with curatively resected NSCLC.

A total of 91 tumor and matching nontumorous lung tissue samples from patients with NSCLC were analyzed using a quantitative real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction method. The relative ODC mRNA expression was measured in tumorous and nontumorous lung tissue using beta-actin as a reference gene. Squamous cell carcinoma was found in 43 patients (47%), adenocarcinoma in 33 (36%), and large-cell carcinoma in 15 of the patients (17%). All patients' disease was R0 resected.

Ornithine decarboxylase was detected in all 91 tumor and nontumorous lung tissue samples. The median tumorous expression of 9.11 (range, 0.92-155.35) was significantly elevated compared with the median ODC expression of 7.89 (range, 0.0-45.8) in nontumorous lung tissue. Ornithine decarboxylase expression levels were not associated with any clinicopathologic parameters. Using an ODC/beta-actin ratio of 10 as a cutoff, tumorous ODC (tODC) expression is a significant prognostic factor in NSCLC. The ODC ratio between tumorous and nontumorous expression was even more prognostic. Moreover, Cox proportional hazards model analysis showed ODC expression to be an independent prognostic factor.

In this study, ODC is shown to have a prognostic potential in NSCLC. Low levels of tODC expression are associated with a more aggressive tumor biology. Also, an increase of ODC mRNA expression during carcinogenesis seems to have a favorable prognostic effect. Measuring the ODC expression in patients with NSCLC could aid in further chemotherapy decisions. Our results suggest that further investigation of ODC mRNA expression in NSCLC may be warranted.