Aims: To study the prognosis of adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung in comparison with squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, and explore its clinicopathological characteristics.
Methods: Immunohistochemical staining for Ki67 and p53 was performed on 40 samples of adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung, 97 adenocarcinoma and 102 squamous cell carcinoma, respectively. We quantificationally tested the Positive Unit (PU) of Ki67 and p53 expression, then, performed semi-quantitative analysis for Ki67 and p53 expression by ImagePro Plus image analysis.
Results: Quantitative and semi-quantitative analysis indicated adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung, squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma showed high expression of Ki67 and p53, but there were no statistical differences (P=0.33, P=0.258). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed comparison of survival curves with adenosquamous carcinoma for squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma indicated non-significant differences. Furthermore, univariate analysis indicated distant metastasis (P=0.01) and TNM stage (P=0.002) were associated with poorer prognosis of adenosquamous carcinoma.
Conclusions: There is no significant difference in prognosis among adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung, squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. Moreover, TNM stage and distant metastasis are associated with the prognosis of adenosquamous carcinoma.
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81271729).