Activated Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor–Stat-3 Signaling Promotes Tumor Survival In vivo in Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer

Purpose: Signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (Stat3), a member of the STAT family of transcription factors, regulates multiple oncogenic pathways, including pathways regulating tumor cell survival. We evaluated Stat3 activation in early stage non–small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) and how this relates to upstream epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activation, tumor apoptosis, and prognosis. Experimental Design: High-density tissue microarrays using tissues from 176 surgically resected NSCLC were evaluated for expression of phosphorylated Stat3 (pStat3) and epidermal growth factor receptor (pEGFR) along with tumor apoptosis. Using NSCLC cell lines, we evaluated how pStat3 expression relates to EGFR mutations and sensitivity of cells to gefitinib. Results: We identified nuclear pStat3 expression in 54% of tumors. pStat3 expression was correlated with smaller tumors (P < 0.0001) and with limited smoking history (P = 0.02). We identified a trend toward higher pStat3 expression in adenocarcinomas compared with other tumor histology (P = 0.09). No relationship was found between pStat3 and prognosis following surgical resection. Importantly, we found a strong positive correlation between pEGFR expression and pStat3 expression (P <0.0001) and an inverse correlation between pStat3 and apoptosis (P = 0.01) consistent with less apoptosis in tumors expressing high amounts of pStat3. Cell lines with mutant EGFR have increased levels of pStat3 compared with cell lines without mutant EGFR and this correlates with their sensitivity to gefitinib. Finally, antisense-mediated knockdown of Stat3 induces apoptosis in EGFR mutant lung cancer cells. Conclusions: Early-stage NSCLC tumors have activated EGFR-Stat3 signaling with low apoptosis. Our findings suggest that pStat3 expression may be helpful in identifying patients appropriate for treatment with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors.