All selected markers except DSG3 were present at high levels in the primary tumors and at very low or non-detectable levels in normal LNs and PB in the first round of validation, indicating a potential for detecting tumor cells in NSCLC patients.
We used immunohistochemical analysis to examine the expression of desmoglein 3 by using tissue microarrays containing samples from 300 surgical non-small-cell lung cancer and 183 lung neuroendocrine tumor.
PVA and SFTPB are particularly powerful in tumors of squamous and adenocarcinoma histologies, respectively, whereas TACSTD1 is a good general marker for NSCLC metastasis.