Clinical significance of ALDH1A1 expression and its association with E-cadherin and N-cadherin in resected large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma

•It is the first study on the effect of ALDH1A1 on the prognosis of LCNEC. And we found ALDH1A1 acts as a favorable independent prognostic factor in LCNEC.•We investigated the relationship between ALDH1A1 and EMT markers (E-cadherin/ N-cadherin) and found that ALDH1A1 is associated with epithelial phenotype marker E-cadherin in LCNEC.•Our sample size is large and simple and the clinical data is complete.•The exploration of the prognostic mechanism of LCNEC is of great significance to its classification, treatment and prognosis.