The type III TGF beta receptor is differentially expressed in non-small cell lung cancer and associates with patient survival.
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States (1). We mined published microarray data (2, 3, 4) to identify differentially expressed genes in NSCLC. We found that the gene encoding the type III transforming growth factor (TGF)-β receptor, TGFBR3, was among the genes whose expression was most quantitatively different in tumors from patients with NSCLC as compared to the lung. TGFBR3 expression was significantly decreased in NSCLC tumors as compared to the lung, and lower expression of TGFBR3 in patient tumors was significantly associated with worse overall survival. We previously reported differential and decreased expression of LTBP4 (5) which associated with patient survival in NSCLC. TGFBR3, and the TGF-β signaling pathway may be important for initiation or progression of non-small cell lung cancer in humans.