Prognostic test for early stage non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

Abstract

The invention provides methods for identifying early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who will have a favorable prognosis for the recurrence of lung cancer after surgical resection. The invention is based on the discovery that assessment of chromosomal copy number abnormalities at chromosome 10q23.3 and centromere 10 can be used for prognostic classification. The invention preferably uses fluorescence in situ hybridization with fluorescently labeled nucleic acid probes to hybridize to patient samples to quantify the chromosomal copy number of the these genetic loci. The chromosome copy number can also be determined using, for example, PCR or array CGH. Assessment of the copy number abnormality patterns with a classifier based on the relative loss of 10q23.3 signals compared to the centromere 10 signals produced statistically significant prognostic classification for NSCLC. The ratio of PTEN/CEP 10 signals, using a cutoff of 0.80, was capable of dividing patients into a group of 41 (≧0.80) in which 33 (80.5%) had the favorable prognosis, and a group of 18 (<0.80) in which 6 (33.3%) had the favorable prognosis (p=0.0008). Median times to recurrence in the former and latter groups were 83.0 and 13.0 months, respectively (p<0.0001).

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