Evaluation of CD10 expression and prognostic factors in surgical patients with primary lung cancer

Abstract

Using immunohistochemistry, we investigated whether CD10 expression was associated with prognostic factors and overall survival in primary lung cancer. The presence, proportion, and pattern of CD10 expression in 388 tumors were examined. The association of 11 factors with CD10 expression was evaluated, namely, age, sex, surgical treatment, histological type, T factor, N factor, histopathological differentiation, pleural infiltration, lymphatic invasion, vascular invasion, and EGFR mutation. Each factor was subjected to univariate/multivariate analyses using logistic regression analysis of the cumulative survival rate. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered significant in all tests. CD10 was positive in 122 tumors (31%). The positive rates in terms of histological type were 67/286 (23%) for adenocarcinoma, 35/73 (48%) for squamous cell carcinoma, and 20/29 (68%) for other tumors. The expression rate tended to increase in the order of adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and other tumors. The predominant expression pattern tended to be the apical membrane pattern in adenocarcinomas and the membrane and cytoplasm pattern in squamous cell carcinomas and other tumors. In the univariate analysis, 10 factors, excluding age, were identified as relevant. In multivariate analysis, three factors, namely, N factors (p = 0.017), pleural infiltration (p = 0.003), and EGFR mutation (p = 0.017), were found to be independent related factors. The five-year overall survival rate was significantly lower in the CD10-positive group than in the CD10-negative group. CD10 expression determined by immunohistochemistry is a prognostic predictor of primary lung cancer and may be a basis for the stratification of patients to some extent. It can be expected to be used as a highly convenient and useful biomarker.