N-acetylgalactosaminyl transferase-3 is a potential new marker for non-small cell lung cancers

N-acetylgalactosaminyl transferase-3 (GalNAc-T3) is an enzyme involved in the initial glycosylation of mucin-type O-linked proteins. In the present study, we used immunohistochemistry to examine GalNAc-T3 expression in 2 15 surgically resected non-small cell lung cancers. We analysed the biological and clinical importance of GalNAc-T3 expression, especially with regard to its potential as a prognostic factor. We found that normal bronchial epithelial cells, bronchial gland cells, and alveolar pneumocytes showed cytoplasmic immunostaining for GalNAc-T3. Low expression of GalNA&T3, observed in 93 of 215 tumours (43.4%), was found more frequently in tumours from smokers than those from nonsmokers (P = 0.001), in squamous cell carcinomas than nonsquamous cell carcinomas (P < 0.0001), and in moderately and poorly differentiated tumours than well differentiated tumours (P = 0.0002). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that an association of low GalNAc-T3 expression with squamous cell carcinomas was the only one significant relationship of GalNA&T3 expression with various factors (P < 0.0001). Moreover, tumours losing GalNAc-T3 expression had a significantly higher Ki-67 labelling index than tumours retaining GalNA&T3 expression (P = 0.0003). Patients with low GalNAc-T3 expression survived a significantly shorter time than patients with high GalNAc-T3 expression in 103 pStage I non-small cell lung cancers (5-year survival rates, 58% and 78%, respectively; P = 0.02 by log-rank test) as well as in 6 1 pStage I nonsquamous cell carcinomas (5-year survival rates, 63% and 85%, respectively; P = 0.03). Low GalNAc-T3 expression was an unfavourable prognostic factor in pStage I non-small cell lung cancers (hazards ratio, 2.04; P = 0.03), and in pStage I nonsquamous cell carcinomas (hazards ratio, 2,70; P = 0.03). These results suggest that GalNAc-T3 is a new marker of non-small cell lung cancers with specificity for histology and prognosis. (C) 2002 Cancer Research UK.