Insulin-like growth factor-II as a prognostic factor in pulmonary adenocarcinoma.

We stained resected specimens from 117 patients with pulmonary adenocarcinoma for insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II) by the avidin-biotin-peroxidase (ABC) method and evaluated the usefulness of IGF-II as a prognostic factor. The patients were classified into the IGF-II (+) groups showing staining of 1% or more cancer cells (60 patients) and the IGF-II (-) groups showing staining of <1% (57 patients). The 5-year survival rate was 22% in the IGF-II (+) group and 54% in the IGF-II (-) group (P<0.01). Our results suggest the usefulness of IGF-II stainability as a prognostic factor of pulmonary adenocarcinoma.