The Role of Thyroid Transcription Factor-1 DNA Binding Activity in Lung Cancer

Abstract

Background and objective TTF-1 is a homeodomain transcriptional regulator of both structural organization of the lung and differentiation of highly specialized epithelial cell types such as alveolar typeⅡcells. This study is to investigate the Thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1) DNA binding activity in lung cancer tissue and its significance with lung cancer pathologic type and differentiation level. Methods The TTF-1 DNA binding activity wasdetected in lung cancer tissue by Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA), autoradiography and photo densitometry. Results The optical density of TTF-1 DNA binding activity in adenocarcinoma tissue was 172±23.2 and it was remarkably higher than that in other pathological types, including 141±16.3 of small cell carcinomas and 122±13.6 of squamous carcinoma (P <0.05). The optical density of TTF-1 DNA binding activity in highly differentiated lung cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in poor-differentiated lung cancer (P <0.05). Overall survival and disease-free survival rates were better among patients with low TTF-1 DNA binding activity levels than those in patients with high levels. Conclusion TTF-1 DNA binding activity is a potential predictor of lung cancer metastasis and survival