The expression levels of
thymidine phosphorylase (TP),
dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD),
thymidylate synthase (TS) and
orotate phosphoribosyltransferase (OPRT) may predict the clinical efficacy of 5-fluorouracil-based
chemotherapy in patients with
cancer. We herein investigated the differences in the
mRNA levels of these
enzymes in
non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and evaluated their prognostic value for NSCLC treated by surgical resection. The intratumoral
mRNA levels of TP, DPD, TS, and OPRT were quantified in 66 patients with pathological stage I and II NSCLC (
adenocarcinoma or
squamous cell carcinoma) following complete resection according to the Danenberg
Tumor Profile method. The TP level was the only significant prognostic factor for disease-specific survival (DSS) following complete resection; the mean TP
mRNA level differed significantly between the high and low
mRNA expression groups. The DSS at 5 years was significantly higher in the low TP
mRNA compared with that in the high TP
mRNA expression group (83.4 vs. 58.6%, respectively; P=0.005). A Cox proportional hazards model revealed that pathological stage, sex, and TP expression were independent prognostic factors for DSS in patients with stage I and II NSCLC following complete resection. Thus, TP level may be used to monitor treatment efficacy and predict the outcome of NSCLC patients.