EXPRESSION OF ONCOPROTEINS IN PRIMARY HUMAN NONSMALL CELL LUNG-CANCERAND INCIDENCE OF METASTASES

In the current study the relationship between the incidence of metasta tic spread and expression (at the protein level) of various proto-onco genes was investigated in 217 human non-small cell lung carcinomas. Tu mors with an overexpression of proteins encoded by the oncogenes c-jun and c-myc showed a significantly increased formation of metastases (c -jun: P = 0.008; c-myc: P = 0.018). No significant correlations were f ound between the expression of the c-fos, c-erbB1, c-neu and c-ras pro ducts and metastatic spread.