1Department of Pathology, College of Medicine Korea University, Korea. 2Department of Pathology, Samung Medical Center, Korea. 3Department of Anatomical Pathology, Daejeon Eulgi Hospital, Korea.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: TGF-beta-1 is actually a major growth inhibitor for most cell types. We assumed that the loss of TGF-beta-1 would be occurred during carcinogenesis of the lung. Also, the mutation and expression of p53 have been known to be major moleclar change of non-small cell carcinoma of the lung. So, the relationship between the mutation of p53 and the expression of TGF-beta-1 in the non-small cell carcinomas were evaluated.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 43 non-small cell carcinoma and normal tissue of the lung, their TGF-beta-1 mRNA were measured by RT-PCR and p53 was studied by SSCP and Western blotting assay.
RESULTS: p53 mutation rate in non-small cell carcinomas of the lung (48.4%) was much more frequent than the normal control group (14.3%). The expression rate of TGF-beta-1 in lung carcinomas, especially squamous cell carcinoma (71.4%), was much higher than the normal control group (42.9%). p53 mutation and TGF-beta-1 mRNA in the lung carcinomas were not strongly correlated.
CONCLUSION: It suggests that high expression rate of TGF-beta-1 and p53 mutation are associated with carcinogenesis of non-small cell carcinoma of the lung. High expression rate of TGF-beta-1 in the lung carcinomas can be partly explained by the fact that TGF-beta-1 have capacity to control the production of many components of the extracellular matrix and enhance angiogenesis in favor of tumor growth despite of their inhibitory effects of cell growth. However, additional research is required to determine the exact role of TGF-beta-1 in carcinogenesis of the lung.
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