Journal Thoracic Oncology

Abstracts Journal of Thoracic Oncology • Volume 12 Issue S1 January 2017
complete resection. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical
records of treatment-naïve patients who underwent complete resection of
stage I lung adenocarcinoma between January 2008 and December 2014.
Mutation testing was performed on resected tumor using multiplex (SNaP
Shot) polymerase chain reaction assay. Survival curves were generated with
Kaplan-Meier method and compared using a log-rank test. A Cox proportional
hazards model was used for multivariate analysis. Results: Of 583 patients,
127 (21.8%) patients had EGFR-mutations. Median follow up period after
surgery was 36.9 months (range: 0.1-95.8). Patients with EGFR mutations
showed a better 5-year recurrence-free survival (RFS, 89.4% vs 77.8%,
p=0.0053) and 5-year overall survival (OS, 99.1% vs 87.7%, p=0.0044) than
those with EGFR wild-type (Figure). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that
the presence of EGFR mutation (HR=0.4875, p=0.0388) and pathological stage
0 or IA (HR=0.4590, p=0.0016) were independent prognostic factors for better
RFS. The presence of EGFR mutations (HR=0.1878, p=0.0443), lobar resection
(HR=0.4076, p=0.0123), and ECOG performance status 0 (HR=0.4061,
p=0.0259) were independent prognostic factors for better OS.
known as Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs), which are able to grow as spheroids
(suspension culture). The aim of the study was to obtain tumorspheres
from lung cancer cell lines and to use them as an in vitro platform for drug
screening. Methods: Cells from lung cancer cell lines (A549, H1650, PC9, H460
and H358) were grown in monolayer and as spheroids. Cultured cells were
used: (i) to compare the cytotoxic effect of anticancer drugs in adherent
vs lung-tumorspheres (ii) to perform a high-throughput screening with a
commercial chemical library (Prestwick) and (iii) to analyze the citotoxicity
of specific inhibitors of Wnt, Hedgehog and Notch pathways. Briefly, cells
were plated at the desired density in 200 μl of medium in 96-well plates and
compounds were added at 4 different concentrations (n=3). Cell viability was
measured after 48 and 72h, using MTS Assay. Cell viability was normalized
to the respective mock-treated control cells and presented as percentage of
control. Results: Cells cultured in serum-free conditions were able to form
spheroids, such as stem-like cells. Under these culture conditions, classical
anticancer drugs (cisplatin, paclitaxel, vinorelbine and pemetrexed) exhibited
mild or null cytotoxic effects on A549, H1650, PC9, H460 and H358 spheroids.
Moreover, we performed a high-throughput screening with Prestwick library
and remarkably, three compounds reduced the number of viable cancer cells.
As regards ‘stemness’ inhibitors, Wnt (IWP2 and XAV939) and Hedgehog
inhibitors (Vismodegib) show high activity against tumorspheres (p