Expression of the prothymosin-α gene as a prognostic factor in lung cancer

Prothymosin-alpha (PT alpha) is known to play a role in cell proliferation, and the PT alpha mRNA level may reflect the degree of proliferation of tumor cells. It has been reported that PT alpha mRNA levels are higher in human colon and liver cancer tissues than in the adjacent normal tissues. We examined the mRNA levels of PT alpha and c-myc in 20 lung cancers, using Bas 250OMac systems. The PT alpha and c-myc mRNA levels in lung cancer tissues were higher than those in normal lung tissues; however, the PT alpha mRNA levels did not correlate with the stage or pathological subtype of the lung cancer and there was no correlation between the expression of PT alpha and c-myc. PT alpha mRNA overexpression in lung cancer was correlated with a poor prognosis.