Abstract

Background: Lung cancer is one of the main causes of cancer mortality in both men and women. Up to 80% of lung cancers are Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). With regards to the role of serotonin, as an autocrine growth factor for small-cell lung cancer cells and gammaaminobutyric acid (GABA) and its receptors as a regulator in many types of cancers; the current study was conducted to investigate the expression of serotonin and GABA gene receptors in lung cancer patients.

Methods: Relative gene expression of two 5-hydroxytryptamine subtypes (5HTR2A and 5-HTR3A) and GABAB receptor was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) from 30 NSCLC patients visited in Imam Khomeini hospital, Tehran and 30 healthy controls.

Results: Our results demonstrated that the expression of 5HTR3A, 5HTR2A and GABAB R genes was significantly higher in patients compared to the healthy individuals.

Conclusion: According to our findings, 5-HT and GABA may be involved in the regulation of tumorigenesis via their receptors, thus playing an important role in lung cancer.

Keywords: 5HTR2A, 5HTR3A, GABA, serotonin, receptor, non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).