ABSTRACT
Background: The promising improvement in the clinical outcome of lung cancer can be possibly achieved by identification of the molecular events that underlie its pathogenesis. Cancer stem cell (CSC) being one of the subsets of tumor majorly participates in drug resistance and treatment failure because of the moderate cell cycle, lower proliferation, and increased expression of DNA repair and anti-apoptosis genes. Although many putative CSC markers exist, a precise characterization for non-small cell lung cancer is of utmost importance due to increased mortality rate and lack of targeted therapies. Hence, the article focuses on the expression of stemness-associated markers, namely octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (OCT4), NANOG, and sex-determining region Y-box 2 (SOX2) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Methods: The expression of OCT4, NANOG, and SOX2 were evaluated in 32 histopathologically confirmed NSCLC tissues using real-time polymerase chain reaction. The obtained expression was correlated with clinical and pathological manifestations using the statistical test such as Student's t-test and Pearson correlation in varied statistical software. Results: Results showed a significantly higher expression of OCT4 and NANOG compared to SOX2 in the tumor tissues. When the expression of these markers was correlated with the clinical parameters, higher expression was seen in males, patients with age above 60 years, and in adenocarcinoma subtype. In correlation with the habit, higher expression of OCT4 and SOX2 was observed in habituated patients. Expression of NANOG and OCT4 was higher even in patients with poor differentiation. Conclusion: The expression and prognostic significance of CSC markers obviously vary depending on histological NSCLC subtype. Importantly, our findings suggest that OCT4, SOX2, and NANOG network together may be promising for ongoing targeted therapies in specific NSCLC subgroups
ABSTRACT
The most functional compartment encoded by the genome is proteome. Therefore study of proteome i.e. proteomics is the promising approach in identification, separation and quantitation of functional changes. It aims to gain a comprehensive understanding of the expressions, modifications, interactions, and regulation of proteins in cells. The power of two-dimensional electrophoresis and advances in mass spectrometric techniques, combined with sequence data base correlation, has enabled speed and accuracy in identification of proteins in complex mixtures. Therefore, proteomics may provide a better understanding of the molecular basis of cancer growth, with identification of potential pathological markers and therapeutic targets. Tobacco related cancers are the major health hazard in Asian countries; the proteomics approach should be employed for understanding the underlying disease processes and hopefully reveal important clues for identifying high risk individuals and early changes during malignant transformation.