Background: Transforming growth factor beta (TGF ) is involved in a variety of important cellular functions. The lack of TGF -dependent cell-growth control might be related to oncogenesis, as it has been shown in lung, breast, and colon carcinomas. Current observations have revealed that TGF is rather an inhibiting, not a stimulating, factor as far as malignant tumor development is concerned. Recently, however, there has been a growing number of reports on increased expression of TGF genes in certain tumors. In patients with a diagnosis of non-small-cell lung carcinoma, the tumors expressing high levels of TGF were the ones that had a higher proliferation and metastasis capability, whereas more promising were the cases with lower levels of TGF expression.
Material/methods: A pilot study of 14 patients was conducted comprising 8 patients with a low-grade lymphoma and 6 patients with a high-grade lymphoma. The QRT-PCR method was employed to assess the activity of TGF 1 and of its receptor types I, II, and III.
Results: The expression values for TGF 1 and its receptors I, II, and III were twice as high in the group of patients with a diagnosis of high-grade lymphomas as in the group of patients diagnosed with low-grade lymphomas.
Conclusions: Results showed a clear difference in TGF 1 expression in patients with NHL depending on the subtype of the lymphoma, suggesting its significant role in the pathomechanism of this group of malignant diseases as well as its potential value as a prognostic factor.