Clinicopathological and prognostic significance of NCALD protein expression in lung adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND: Although there are great improvements in diagnostics and treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), it remains the leading cause of cancer-related death globally. NSCLC can be further categorized into two common subtypes, lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) and lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). The aims of this study were to evaluate the expression of neurocalcin delta (NCALD) in LUAD patients and to evaluate the relationship between NCALD expression and clinicopathological feature as well as overall survival (OS). METHODS: The expression level of NCALD protein was assessed by immunohistochemical analysis of tissue microarrays (TMAs) which contained 90 LUAD tissues and paired adjacent normal tissues. The relationship between NCALD expression level and clinicopathological characteristics as well as OS were investigated. RESULTS: The results showed that the expression level of NCALD protein in LUAD tissues was significantly down-regulated (P<0.01) and that the NCALD level was correlated with the tumor size (P<0.001), lymph node metastasis (P=0.03) and TNM stage (P=0.015). Both Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression univariate analysis identified that NCALD expression level, lymph node metastasis, and clinical TNM stages were prognostic factors for patients’ survival (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Overexpression of NCALD is a significant marker for a good prognosis in patients with LUAD.