DNA ALTERATIONS AT PROTOONCOGENE LOCI AND THEIR CLINICAL-SIGNIFICANCE IN OPERABLE NON-SMALL-CELL LUNG-CANCER

DNA from tumor samples of 54 patients with operable non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was analyzed to determine whether proto‐oncogene alterations could be correlated with the clinical behavior of lung cancer. Among seven proto‐oncogenes tested, changes in the copy number of Ha‐ras, c‐myc and c‐raf‐1 were found in only seven tumors. Most of them were epidermoid carcinomas without lymph node involvement (No). In spite of a localized disease with complete surgical resection, six of these patients relapsed within a mean disease‐free interval (DFI) of only 6.5 months. There is a significant correlation between DNA alterations at protooncogene loci and clinical relapse within 12 months of surgical resection (P < 0.025). Copyright © 1990 American Cancer Society