MRP1 and GSTp1 expression in non-small cell lung cancer does not correlate with clinicopathological parameters: A Slovakian population study

We detected MRP1 (multidrug resistance-associated protein 1) and GSTp1 (glutathione-S-transferase p1) protein expression in samples of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and our results were compared to basic clinicopathological parameters. The indirect immunohistochemical method was used for localization of monitored proteins. A total of 135 tissue samples of NSCLC were characterized according to histopathological type of tumor. Next, we compared our results with basic clinicopathological parameters (histopathological type of tumor, tumor grade and TNM stage of disease). In MRP1 and GSTp1 positive tumor cells, strong brown cytoplasmic immunostaining was visible. In our set of samples 71% showed MRP1 positivity, while according to histopathological type the squamous cell carcinoma reached the highest level of positivity (76%). Our GSTp1 results showed that similarly to MRP1, 70% of samples were GSTp1 positive. According to histopathological type the adenocarcinoma samples showed the highest GSTp1 expression (77%). For precise statistical evaluation the Kruskal–Wallis, Chi-square and Mann–Whitney tests were used. We did not find any statistically significant correlations between MRP1 and clinicopathological parameters. In the group of GSTp1, by Mann–Whitney test we found a statistically significant correlation between GSTp1 and histological grade (p = 0.025) in adenocarcinoma samples. As this was only one group of statistically significant correlation we wanted to confirm this finding. For this we applied also Chi-square test which revealed no statistically significant dependence (p = 0.077). No statistically significant relation was seen in the coexpression of both proteins (p = 0.753). Despite this, the majority of samples simultaneously expressed MRP1 and GSTp1 proteins. In conclusion, our results show that MRP1 and GSTp1 proteins represent independent prognostic features in NSCLC. Nevertheless, the clinical outcome in individual patients is often difficult to predict. Identification of the factors that characterize the resistant cases would permit immediate treatment of the patients with alternative therapeutic approaches.