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Current Thoracic Surgery 2017 , Vol 2 , Issue 1
Upregulated mRNA expression of mTOR in surgically resected early stage non-small cell lung carcinoma: a potential molecular targeted therapy
Muhammet Sayan1,Ali Çelik2,Şevki Mustafa Demiröz3,Hacer İlke Önen4,Nalan Akyürek5, Ece Konaç4,İsmail Cüneyt Kurul2,Abdullah İrfan Taştepe2
1Department of Thoracic Surgery, School of Medicine, Kahramanmaras Sütçü İmam University, Kahramanmaras,
2Department of Thoracic Surgery, School of Medicine, Gazi University, Ankara,
3Department of Thoracic Surgery, Atatürk Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Ankara
4Department of Medical Biology and Genetics, School of Medicine, Gazi University, Ankara
5Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey DOI : 10.26663/cts.2017.0002 Viewed : 6403 - Downloaded : 1875 Background: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) comprises about 85% of all lung cancers. Although many attempts for early detection and treatment, prognosis of NSCLC is still poor. In recent years the pathways and the genes that play role in lung cancer development were researched widely. PI3K/AKT/MTOR which is thought to be efficacious in the development of many cancer which controls the expression of many genes playing an important role in cell proliferation, metastasis, resistance to apoptosis and angiogenesis. Also the increase in CCND1 expression was shown in several cancer types. The aim of this study is to search the mRNA expression profile of AKT, MTOR and CCND1 genes which has been thought to play role in NSCLC development, and their expression in different pathological stages and histological types of the disease.

Materials and Methods: Forty-four NSCLC patients who didn"t get neoadjuvant therapy were included in this study. The samples from tumor and matched normal lung tissue were obtained from resection specimens (lobectomy or pneumonectomy). Total cellular RNA was isolated from the samples. The mRNA expression levels of AKT1, mTOR and CCND1 genes were measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).

Results: Our findings revealed a statistically significant increase of mTOR expression on mRNA levels (P < 0.05). Although AKT and CCND1 expression slightly increased in malign tissues, these changes in the expression were not significant (P > 0.05). The mRNA expression of mTOR was also upregulated and it was statistically significant for early stage disease and adenocarcinoma subtype (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: Inhibition of mTOR gene expression at mRNA level might be potential target for future treatment strategies of NSCLC. Keywords : non-small cell lung cancer, mRNA expression, AKT1, mTOR, CCND1