BACKGROUND: Glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) is a transmembrane protein responsible for the transportation of glucose across the cell membrane that is often overexpressed in cancer. Due to a key role in cancer glucose metabolism and its membranous localization GLUT1 represents a potential therapeutic target. Our study was designed to elucidate the prevalence of GLUT1 expression and potential associations with tumor phenotype as well as patient outcome in different lung cancer subtypes. METHODS: A tissue microarray containing 858 resected lung cancers was analyzed for GLUT1 expression by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: GLUT1 staining was significantly more prevalent and intense in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC, 97.3%) than in pulmonary adenocarcinoma (AC, 62.9%; P<0.001). Of the 225 SCCs, GLUT1 staining was observed in 219 (97.3%) tumors and considered strong in 75.6%, moderate in 15.1%, and weak in 6.7%. In 439 ACs, GLUT1 staining was seen in 276 (62.9%) tumors and considered strong in 14.6%, moderate in 16.4% and weak in 31.9%. High GLUT1 staining was significantly linked to advanced pT stage (P=0.03), nodal metastasis (P<0.001), high grade (P<0.001) and poor overall survival (OS) (P=0.01) in ACs. In SCCs, high GLUT1 staining was unrelated to pT, pN, and histologic grade but significantly linked to OS (P=0.03). CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that GLUT1 expression is commonly expressed in lung cancer and that a high level of expression is linked to unfavorable tumor features and/or poor prognosis in both AC and SCC.
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