18134 Background: New treatment ideas are needed in small cell lung cancer (SCLC). N-cadherin which is associated with increased tumor invasiveness is a potential novel therapeutic target. It seems reasonable to test recently developed cyclic peptide N-cadherin antagonists in tumors with high N-cadherin expression, and it seemed likely that high N-cadherin expression would occur more frequently in aggressive tumors like SCLC. Our objective was to determine the frequency and biological significance of N-cadherin expression in SCLC. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 86 patients with small cell lung cancer, most of whom received treatment: chemotherapy with or without radiation. We reviewed their clinical charts and obtained: date of diagnosis, age, gender, performance status, treatment dates and treatment response (CR/PR, stable disease, progression), and death or last encounter date. We also analyzed their pathology specimens for frequency of expression of N-cadherin and grouped them into three categories: no expression, some expression of N-cadherin >1% but <35%, and strong expression 36–100%. Subsequently, we determined the correlation between the N-cadherin frequency groups and the overall survival for all 86 patients. We also determined the time to progression in a subset of 56 patients (with available treatment response data). Results: Out of the 86 patients, 18 (21%) did not express N-cadherin, 10 (11.6%) patients showed >1% but <35% expression of N- cadherin, and 58 (67.4%) had a strong expression >36%-100%. There was no association found between N-cadherin expression and overall survival using either the Log-Rank Test or the Wilcoxon Test. In the subset of 56 patients with available treatment response data there was no association between N-cadherin expression and progression free survival. Conclusions: N-cadherin was expressed relatively frequently in this group of SCLC patients, and these results suggest that phase II trials of the novel cyclic peptide N-cadherin antagonists are warranted in SCLC. N-cadherin did not appear to have prognostic value in our study. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
E2F8 and its target genes as novel therapeutic targets for lung cancer
