Expression of key regulatory genes in necroptosis and its effect on the prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer.

Accumulating evidence suggests that necroptosis, or programmed necrotic cell death, may play a significant role in cancer. We evaluated the expression of key molecules in necroptosis and their association with clinical features and prognosis in NSCLC. A total of 253 NSCLC patients (96 squamous cell carcinoma [SCC] cases and 157 adenocarcinoma [AC] cases) who underwent curative resection were included. Tumor tissues and corresponding normal tissues were investigated for relative mRNA expression levels of , , and . Difference in disease free survival (DFS) was analyzed according to the expression levels of these molecules in tumor tissues. NSCLC tissues had significantly lower expression of , , and than normal tissues ( = 1 x 10, = 8 x 10, and = 4 x 10, respectively). In subgroup analysis, SCCs had significantly lower , , and expression ( = 5 x 10, = 3 x 10, = 1 x 10, respectively), and ACs had significantly lower and expression ( = 0.01 and = 6 x 10, respectively) than normal tissues. Low expression of , , and in tumors was associated with a worse DFS (HR = 1.71, = 0.01; HR = 1.53, = 0.04; and HR = 1.53, = 0.04, respectively) in a multivariate analysis. In SCC, none of the , , and expression was significantly associated with DFS. However, in AC, low expression of , , and was significantly associated with worse DFS (HR = 1.67, = 0.03; HR = 1.70, = 0.03; and HR = 1.81, = 0.02, respectively). Key regulatory genes in necroptosis, , , and , were downregulated in NSCLC, and their lower expression in NSCLC may be used to predict early recurrence after curative resection, especially in AC.