Prognostic value of cytokinetic parameters in lung cancer after in vivo bromodeoxyuridine labelling

Background: To improve the overall survival rate in lung cancer by adjustme nt of treatment protocols on basis of tumour characteristics of individual patients, independent predictive parameters are required. Therefore, we eva luated the prognostic value of cytokinetic parameters such as bromodeoxyuri dine (BrdU) labelling index (LI), S-phase fi action (SPF), unlabelled S-pha se fraction (USPF), S-phase duration (Ts) and potential tumour doubling lim e (Tpot), next to more established parameters. Materials and Methods: To th is end a series of 92 bronchoscopic specimens of in vivo BrdU labelled lung cancer patients, 72 presenting with non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) and 20 patients with small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC), were analysed flow c ytometrically. Clinical as well as cytokinetic data were collected nod rela ted to survival times over a follow-up period of 2 to 7 years. Results: We found that Tpot was a significant independent discriminator of good and poo l prognosis in NSCLC. In particular; in non-squamous NSCLC a short Tpot, sh ort Ts and high LI predicted for shorter survival time. In squamous cell ca rcinoma, a high USPF may predict a shorter survival period although the con elation was only borderline-significant. Conclusions: We conclude that the se parameters may in future be of use in drawing up more adequate treatment schedules for individual lung cancer patients.