Correlations of highly-expressed purinergic ligand-gated ion channel 7 purine receptor with clinicopathological features and prognosis in patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer

Objective To analyze the correlations of highly-expressed purinergic ligand-gated ion channel 7 purine receptor (P2X7R) with clinicopathological features and prognosis in patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods A total of 120 specimens of tumor tissue were selected in patients with NSCLC, of which 67 tissue specimens contained adjacent normal lung tissues.The correlation between P2X7R expression and clinicopathological features was analyzed; the Logistic regression model and Kaplan-Meier survival curve were used to evaluate the value of P2X7R expression in predicting the survival and prognosis of NSCLC patients.

Results The positive expression rate of P2X7R in the NSCLC tissues was significantly higher than that in adjacent normal tissues (P < 0.01);the high expression rate of P2X7R was significantly higher in the NSCLC patients with phase Ⅲ of TNM staging, phase N₁ or N₂ of lymph node status, tumor diameter≥3 cm and low density of CD8⁺ tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs)(P < 0.05 or P < 0.01);the 5-year disease-free survival and overall survival of patients with low expression of P2X7R were significantly higher than those with high expression of P2X7R (P < 0.01).Cox regression analysis showed that the expression of P2X7R in NSCLC tissues was an independent prognostic influencing factor for 5-year disease-free survival and overall survival (P < 0.05).The areas under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic curve of P2X7R expression in NSCLC tissues for prediction of 5-year recurrence or metastasis and overall survival were 0.850(95%CI, 0.770 to 0.930) and 0.780(95%CI, 0.696 to 0.864) respectively.

Conclusion P2X7R can be used as a reliable prognostic index and potential therapeutic target for NSCLC.