This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Sienel, W. Articles by Pantel, K. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Sienel, W. Articles by Pantel, K.

Elevated Expression of Carcinoembryonic Antigen-related Cell Adhesion Molecule 1 Promotes Progression of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer¹

Department of Surgery, Chirurgische Klinik-Innenstadt, University of Munich, 80336 Munich, Germany [W. S., S. D., W. M., B. P.]; Departments of Thoracic Surgery [W. S., B. P.] and Pathology [A. M-H.], Asklepios Fachkliniken München-Gauting, 82131 Gauting, Germany; and Institute of Clinical Chemistry [C. W., J. B.], and Institute for Tumor Biology [U. W., K. P.], University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany

Purpose: Carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM-1) has recently been implicated in cancer development and progression. This study was performed to assess whether CEACAM-1 expression in primary tumors is correlated to long-term survival in patients with operable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Experimental Design: Primary tumors of 145 consecutive patients with completely resected NSCLC (pT_1–4 pN_0–2 M₀ R₀) were stained immunohistochemically using the monoclonal anti-CEACAM-1 antibody 4D1/C2. The prognostic relevance of CEACAM-1 expression was evaluated by univariate Kaplan-Meier and multivariate Cox regression analysis. The median follow-up period was 72 months (range, 10–130 months).

Results: Normal bronchiolar epithelium present in all sections exhibited no immunostaining. In contrast, 73 tumors (50.4%) showed between 1 and 66% CEACAM-1 positive tumor cells, and 72 tumors (49.6%) exhibited even a higher percentage of positive tumor cells. A high CEACAM-1 expression rate (i.e., ≥66% positive tumor cells) was more frequent in adenocarcinomas than in squamous cell carcinomas (61.9 versus 35.7%, respectively). Multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that CEACAM-1 represents an independent prognosticator for cancer-related survival (P = 0.018; relative risk, 1.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.1–2.8). Subgroup analysis revealed that a high CEACAM-1 expression rate was of significant prognostic impact in pN₁-pN₂ patients (n = 60; P = 0.024), pT₃-pT₄ patients (n = 22; P = 0.009), and stage IIa-IIIa patients (n = 69; P = 0.012).

Conclusions: The absence of CEACAM-1 in normal lung tissue and its expression in tumor cells argues against a tumor-suppressive role of CEACAM-1 in NSCLC. The correlation between elevated CEACAM-1 expression and an unfavorable prognosis indicates rather that CEACAM-1 might promote lung cancer progression.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. Albarran-Somoza, R. Franco-Topete, V. Delgado-Rizo, F. Cerda-Camacho, L. Acosta-Jimenez, M. Lopez-Botet, and A. Daneri-Navarro CEACAM1 in Cervical Cancer and Precursor Lesions: Association With Human Papillomavirus Infection J. Histochem. Cytochem., December 1, 2006; 54(12): 1393 - 1399. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Markel, R. Seidman, N. Stern, T. Cohen-Sinai, O. Izhaki, G. Katz, M. Besser, A. J. Treves, R. S. Blumberg, R. Loewenthal, et al. Inhibition of Human Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte Effector Functions by the Homophilic Carcinoembryonic Cell Adhesion Molecule 1 Interactions J. Immunol., November 1, 2006; 177(9): 6062 - 6071. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. Lucka, M. Fernando, D. Grunow, C. Kannicht, A. K. Horst, P. Nollau, and C. Wagener Identification of Lewis x structures of the cell adhesion molecule CEACAM1 from human granulocytes Glycobiology, January 1, 2005; 15(1): 87 - 100. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Ebrahimnejad, T. Streichert, P. Nollau, A. K. Horst, C. Wagener, A.-M. Bamberger, and J. Brummer CEACAM1 Enhances Invasion and Migration of Melanocytic and Melanoma Cells Am. J. Pathol., November 1, 2004; 165(5): 1781 - 1787. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. K. Green, G. Francia, C. Isidoro, and R. S. Kerbel Antiadhesive antibodies targeting E-cadherin sensitize multicellular tumor spheroids to chemotherapy in vitro Mol. Cancer Ther., February 1, 2004; 3(2): 149 - 159. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]