Objective: To study the effect of MRP gene overexpression on prognosis of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Methods: Paraffin-embedded tissues from 47 cases of NSCLC who had undergone radical tumor resection were examined for expression of MRP gene mRNA by in situ hybridization using labelled digoxigenin probes combined with immunohistochemistry. All the patients were retrospectively followed-up.
Results: All of the 47 lung cancer specimens were found to have overexpression of MRP mRNA. It was significantly correlated with patients' survival period, response to chemotherapy, recurrence and mestastases after surgery, but was not correlated with histology, tumor size, node status, TNM stage, degree of differentiation, age and sex.
Conclusion: Overexpression of MRP gene is a marker of prognostic significance in patients with NSCLC.