Clinicopathological significance of homeobox BP1 mRNA expression in lung cancer tissue

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of beta-protein 1 (BP(1)) gene, a novel member of DLX homeobox gene family, in lung cancer tissue and its relationship with clinical features of lung cancer. METHODS: RT-PCR was employed for detecting BP(1) gene expression in the lung cancer tissues, adjacent tissues, non-cancer lung tissues of 46 lung cancer patients. RESULTS: Thirty-six lung cancer tissues and 6 adjacent tissues but none of the normal tissues were found to have BP(1) gene overexpression, showing significant difference in BP(1) expression between the tissues (P<0.01). Significant difference in BP1 gene overexpression was noted between well differentiated cancers (13 of out 21) and poorly differentiated cancers (22 of the 25), but not between cancers of different stages or between squamous carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. CONCLUSION: BP(1) gene expression is up-regulated in human lung cancer in related to the differentiation level of lung cancer but not to the clinical stage.