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Relationship of the Queuine Content of Transfer Ribonucleic Acids to Histopathological Grading and Survival in Human Lung Cancer¹

Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine [B-S. H.] and Graduate Institute of Microbiology and Immunology [R-T. W.], National Yang-Ming Medical College, and Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Veterans General Hospital [K-Y. C.], Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

To elucidate the significance of tRNA hypomodified with queuine to the grade of malignancies in human solid tumors, the amount of tRNA having guanosine in place of queuosine was determined in human lung cancer and normal lung tissue, by exchanging the unmodified guanosine residue for [³H]guanine. The reaction is catalyzed by guanine:queuine tRNA transglycosylase. Total tRNA was extracted from 23 different lung cancer specimens and the precursor of isoacceptor tRNA that contains guanine instead of queuine in the first or wobble position of the anticodon [(Q-)tRNA] content was determined. In 12 cases the (Q-)tRNA was determined in normal lung tissues as well. In each individual, the (Q-)tRNA content in lung cancer tissue was higher than that of the normal lung tissue. The (Q-)tRNA content was not correlated to the surgicopathological staging of the patients but was highly correlated to the histopathological classification of the tumors. The amounts of (Q-)tRNA were 1.75 ± 0.67 (SD), 2.36 ± 0.89, 3.77 ± 1.39, 5.18 ± 2.32, and 7.65 ± 1.34 pmol/A₂₆₀ in normal, well, moderately, moderately to poorly, and poorly differentiated tumors. The difference from normal to moderately differentiated or less differentiated groups was significant (P < 0.05). In 10 patients with (Q-)tRNA higher than 3.5 pmol/A₂₆₀, their cancers relapsed and only 2 were alive after 4 years. In 11 patients with (Q-)tRNA less than 3.5 pmol/A₂₆₀ in their lung cancer tissues, 7 patients were still alive without any evidence of disease, 3 were dead, and 1 had recurrence of disease. These results, taken together with other previous studies, suggest that a decreased queuosine content of tRNA may be a general feature of neoplasms and may be useful for grading malignancy and perhaps also for the prediction of survival in human lung cancer.

¹ This study was supported in part by Research Grant NSC-78-0412-B-075-37 and NSC-79-0412-B075-36 from the National Science Council, Republic of China, and in part by the projects from the Lung Cancer Foundation in Memory of Dr. K-S. Lu.

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Yang-Ming Medical College, or Department of Surgery, Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.

Received 2/19/92. Accepted 6/17/92.

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