Gene expression profiling of the adjacent airway field cancerization in early stage NSCLC

Previous work has shown that lung tumors and normal-appearing adjacent lung tissues share specific abnormalities that may be highly pertinent to the pathogenesis of lung cancer. However, the global and molecular adjacent airway field cancerization in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not been characterized before. We sought to understand the transcriptomic architecture of the adjacent airway field canerization, in conjunction with tumors, to gain additional insights into the lung cancer biology and oncogenesis. We analyzed the transcriptome, using the Affymetrix Human Gene 1.0 ST platform, of matched NSCLC tumors, multiple normal airway epithelia with differential distance from the tumors as well as uninvolved normal lung tissues. We analyzed the airway field cancerization transcritpome to determine global differentially expressed cancerization profiles in adjacent airways as well as airway profiles that may be modulated by distance from tumors.