Prognostic value of survivin expression in stage III non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with platinum-based therapy

BACKGROUND

The potential prognostic value of survivin is variably reported depending on the lung cancer stage. This study examines the correlation between tumor survivin expression before and after chemoradiation therapy, therapeutic response, and prognosis in stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who were treated with platinum-based chemoradiation therapy and surgery.

METHODS

This retrospective study included stage III NSCLC patients with adequate pre- and posttreatment tumor tissues. Tissues were stained using immunohistochemistry, and the degree of staining was scored. Clinical and biological variables were assessed using univariate and multivariate analyses to determine the prognostic relationship with overall survival (OS) and time to recurrence (TTR).

RESULTS

Fifty-three patients were enrolled. Tumor survivin expression in pretreatment tissues was determined in 47 patients (88.7%). The pretreatment survivin score was unrelated with TTR and OS (p = 0.249 and 0.601, respectively). There was no correlation between the pre- and posttreatment survivin scores (p = 0.309). Downregulated survivin and the posttreatment survivin score (0-1) after chemoradiation were significantly correlated with improved OS (p = 0.04 and p = 0.033, respectively). Age, downregulated survivin score, and posttreatment survivin score (0-1) were significant prognostic factors for survival according to the multivariate analysis.

CONCLUSION

Downregulated and low posttreatment survivin scores are prognostic in stage III NSCLC patients who receive platinum-based chemoradiation therapy followed by surgery regardless of the pretreatment survivin score. These results suggest that additional studies on the relationship between survivin and platinum-based chemoradiation therapy are warranted in NSCLC patients.

Tumor-associated macrophages in stage IIIA pN2 non-small cell lung cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgery

PURPOSE

Most of the patients with stage IIIA pN2 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) develop recurrence after surgery. It is not clear whether post neoadjuvant chemotherapy tumor-associated macrophages is associated with recurrence.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Stage IIIA pN2 NSCLC patients underwent cisplatin/docetaxel neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgery were retrospectively enrolled. Immunohistochemical staining of CD68 was used to identify macrophages in surgical resected stored tissues.

RESULTS

The objective response rate of cisplatin/docetaxel was 68%, overall median disease-free survival (DFS) was 13.1 months and median overall survival (OS) 36.8. months. Multiple Cox regression analysis showed low total macrophage numbers and mediastinal lymph nodes downstaging were independent factors for longer DFS, whereas high islet/stromal macrophages ratio was an independent facto for OS. In patients downstaged to pN0, low total macrophage numbers was also associated with longer DFS.

CONCLUSIONS

Low total macrophage number is an independent factor for better DFS in pN2 stage IIIA NSCLC patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgical resection, which association was kept in those downstaged to pN0. Further studies are warrant to confirm the predictive role of TAMs and their potential causative role in tumor recurrence.

Survival after community diagnosis of early-stage non-small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND

"Rush to surgery" among patients with worse symptoms, delays related to morbidity, and inclusion of patients with advanced disease in study populations have produced a mixed picture of importance of time to treatment to survival of non-small cell lung cancer. Our objective was to assess the contribution of diagnosis to first surgery interval to survival among patients diagnosed in the community with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer.

METHODS

Patients with early-stage lung cancer (N = 174) at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins who were diagnosed and treated from 2003 to 2009 and followed through 2011 made up a prospective study of overall survival. Diagnosis to first surgery interval was examined overall, as 2 segments (referral interval and treatment interval), as short and longer intervals, and as a continuous variable.

RESULTS

The majority of patients were female (55%) and aged more than 65 years (61%). The average mean referral and treatment delays were 61.2 and 5.9 days, respectively. Cox method hazard analysis revealed that older age (years) at diagnosis (hazard ratio [HR], 1.02; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.00-1.05), stage IIB (HR, 2.17; 95% CI, 1.12-4.21), large (>4 cm) (HR, 3.68; 95% CI, 1.05-12.93) or unknown tumor size (HR, 4.45; 95% CI, 1.21-16.38), and weeks from diagnosis to first surgery interval (HR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.00-1.09) predicted worse overall survival. The threshold period of less than 42 days from diagnosis to surgery did not reach statistical significance.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients seem to benefit from rapid reduction of tumor burden with surgery. Reasons for delay were not available. Nevertheless, referral delay experienced in the community is unduly long. In addition to patient choices, an unconscious patient or physician bias that lung cancer is untreatable or an inevitable consequence of smoking may be operating and needs further investigation.