These results suggest that both FOXA1 and NKX2-1 may act as lineage-specific target genes within the 14q amplicon with opposite functions in lung cancer.
Our integrative study demonstrates that the protein versus genomic patterns of TITF-1 have opposing roles in lung cancer prognosis and may occur preferentially in different subsets of NSCLC patients with distinct oncogene mutations.
No epidermal growth factor receptor mutations were found in the thyroid transcription factor 1-positive gynecologic malignancies, and we were unable to establish a relationship between epidermal growth factor receptor mutations and thyroid transcription factor 1 immunopositivity, as was previously shown for lung cancer.
These findings delineate potential links between TTF-1 and TGF-beta signaling in lung cancer progression through regulation of EMT and MET and suggest that modulation of TTF-1 expression can be a novel therapeutic strategy for treatment of lung adenocarcinoma.
Our findings indicate that TITF1 amplification and overexpression contribute to lung cancer cell proliferation rates and survival and implicate TITF1 as a lineage-specific oncogene in lung cancer.
Our present study demonstrates that the frequency of TTF-1 expression in the nucleus was very low in human lung cancer cell lines; however, their cytoplasmic positivities should be further investigated.