PROGNOSTIC SIGNIFICANCE OF NUCLEAR FACTOR KAPPA B IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EXPRESSION IN NON-SMALL CELL LUNG CARCINOMAS

Purpose: To investigate the immunohistochemical expression and the prognostic significance in non-small cell lung carcinomas of a recently defined transcription factor, Nuclear Factor kappa B (NF-kB), which has been reported to be expressed in the nucleus and/or cytoplasm by a variety of neoplasms in the literature. Materials and Methods: Immunohistochemistry against the two major components of this protein family, p50 and p65 (RelA), was performed on 52 patients' material diagnosed as non-small cell lung carcinoma, for 30 of which we had the clinical follow-up data. Results: We observed a high rate of cytoplasmic p50 and p65 expression in all different lung carcinoma histological subtypes. Nuclear staining was only found in a few cases. There was no statistical significance between staining rates and clinical parameters or patient survival. A positive correlation was shown between nuclear and cytoplasmic staining rates of both p50 and p65. Conclusion: Non-small cell lung carcinomas highly express NF-kB p50 and p65 components immunohistochemically. Nevertheless, this expression does not significantly affect prognosis.