Non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a highly aggressive malignancy with survival rates limited to some patients in early stages (I and II). Apoptosis resistance is a hallmark of solid tumors that is tightly concerned with their biology. We analyzed the expression of 84 apoptosis-related genes in a group of Bulgarian patients with early-stage NSCLC.
RNA samples extracted from 12 early-stage NSCLC patients [five squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) and seven adenocarcinomas (AC)] and eight adjacent non neoplastic pulmonary tissues were used for gene expression analysis. We applied pathway-focused expression profiling of 84 apoptosis-related genes using real-time PCR.
Apoptosis-related genes down regulated in NSCLC compared to non tumor lung tissue (