Only patients

with paraffin embedded tissues from surgically resected primary lung cancers and lung cancer-related local lymph node metastatic samples with histologically confirmed NSCLC were included. Torin 2 price patients who had been exposed to TKI before surgical treatment were excluded from this study. In each case, hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue of primary tumor and corresponding synchronous lymph node metastases were reviewed by two pathologists to identify neoplastic areas and the amount of tumor cells in order to ensure that they contained more than 70% of tumor components for DNA extraction and mutation analysis. Tissue blocks were macro-dissected using a safety blade when samples check details were less than 70% of tumor cells. Primary tumor and lymph node specimens were obtained from all patients by surgical resection of primary tumors with lymph nodes dissection according to prevailing surgical standards. Consequently, 80 pairs

Selleckchem MEK inhibitor of primary tumors and the corresponding lymph nodes metastases were analyzed. All samples were from patients of Chinese origin with NSCLC. The characteristics of the included patients were shown in Table 1. Table 1 Patients’ Characteristics (N = 80) Characteristics Patient Number (%) Age, mean (range) 58 (32-77) Gender      Male 50 (62.5)    Female 30 (37.5) Pathologic type      Adenocarcinoma 39 (48.75)    Squamous cell carcinoma 31 (38.75)    Adenosquamous carcinoma 6 (7.5)    Large Fenbendazole cell carcinoma 4 (5) Smoking history      Ever 49 (61.25)    Never 31 (38.75) The inclusive criteria for selecting patients to receive gefitinib as neoadjunvant therapy were as follows: (1) NSCLC verified by cytology

or histology; (2) age 18 to 70 years; (3) NSCLC with stage IIIA or IIIB and the tumors were confined in homolateral thoracic cavity; (4) patients without metastases in contralateral mediastinal lymph node; (5) patients who have never received treatment; (6) patients who could tolerate the surgery; (7) patients who were willing to receive preoperative target therapy. The exclusive criteria were: (1) without definite diagnosis; (2) age ≥ 70 years; (3) NSCLC with N3 or distant metastases; (4) small cell lung cancer; (5) patients who have been treated before; (6) patients who were unable to tolerate radical surgery. The local ethics committee granted approval, and written informed consent was obtained from each patient. DNA extraction Thirty mg of frozen tissue was shredded by scissors. The E.Z.N.ATM Tissue DNA Kit (purchased by OMEGA) was used to extract genomic DNA. Quality and concentration of the DNA samples were examined by Nano Drop (Thermo™). Genomic DNA was then diluted to a working concentration of 5-10 ng/ul.