Background: c-MET protein overexpression has been proposed as a biomarker in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), albeit its role in the clinical setting has not been firmly established yet.
Patients and methods: We designed a retrospective cohort study, consisting of 725 patients with surgically removed NSCLC. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was conducted in tissue microarrays (TMA) from lung tumors and healthy tissue. IHC staining was quantified using H-scores (range 0-300). Association between c-MET H-score and overall survival (OS) as well as progression-free survival (PFS) was explored.
Results: c-MET H-score ≥20 had a significant positive impact on OS in the multivariate analysis in the whole study population, HR = 0.79 (95%CI: 0.64-0.97). The prognostic effect of c-MET H-score ≥20 was even stronger in patients who received adjuvant treatment with a HR = 0.61 (95% CI: 0.40-0.93). In the subgroup of adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma patients with stage IIA-IIIB disease, the prognostic impact of c-MET was significant in the univariate analysis (HR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.43-0.83).
Conclusion: c-MET H-score ≥20 is a positive prognostic biomarker for OS in early stage NSCLC. This benefit seems to be strongly correlated to adjuvant chemotherapy, therefore rendering c-MET H-score ≥20 a possible predictive biomarker for platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy in early stage NSCLC.
Keywords: Biomarker; H-score; Lung cancer; OS; PFS; c-MET.
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