Expression of Brachyury Gene Is a Significant Prognostic Factor for Primary Lung Carcinoma

Background The clinical significance of Brachyury expression and its relationship to epithelial–mesenchymal transition in primary lung carcinoma is unclear. Methods Expression of Brachyury mRNA was investigated in 104 surgically resected primary lung carcinoma tissues. Immunohistochemical analysis of Brachyury transcription factor, Slug, E-cadherin, IL-8, N-cadherin, and Ki67 was performed in 67 of 104 cases, and their expression was correlated to prognoses and clinicopathological factors. Results Brachyury mRNA expression in primary lung carcinoma tissues was a significant predictor of poor prognosis for 5-year disease-free survival and overall survival rates and was significantly correlated to vascular invasion, lymphatic permeation, histological grade, pathologic T stage, and pathologic N stage ( P < 0.05). Brachyury mRNA expression was significantly inversely correlated to E-cadherin expression ( P = 0.0252) and positively correlated to IL-8 protein ( P = 0.0241) and to Slug protein ( P = 0.0243) in adenocarcinoma tissues. Conclusions A positive association between Brachyury and Slug and IL-8, and a negative association with E-cadherin may lead to invasiveness and metastasis in primary lung carcinoma. Brachyury mRNA expression is a significant predictor of poor prognosis in primary lung carcinoma.