Abstract:Objective To investigate the expression of P2X7 receptor (P2X7R) in cancer tissues of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and its clinical significance. Methods The clinical data of 118 patients with NSCLC admitted to our hospital from January 2012 to January 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. The expression of P2X7R in NSCLC tissue samples was detected by immunohistochemistry. According to the results of immunohistochemistry, the patients were divided into the high expression of P2X7R group and the low expression of P2X7R group. Kaplan-Meier curve method and log-rank test were used to compare the tumor-free survival rate and overall survival rate of the high and low expression P2X7R group. Cox proportional hazard model was used to analyze the independent risk factors affecting the tumor-free survival rate and overall survival rate of NSCLC patients. Results In cancer tissues of 72 (61.0%) patients with NSCLC, P2X7R was highly expressed. There was a significant difference in the expression of P2X7R among different TNM stages (P?0.05) and between those with and without lymph node metastasis (P?0.05). The 5-year tumor-free survival rate of patients with high P2X7R expression was lower than that of patients with low P2X7R expression (18.1% vs 25.1%, P?0.05). The 5-year overall survival rate of patients with high P2X7R expression was lower than that of patients with low P2X7R expression (23.3% vs 30.1%, P?0.05). Univariate Cox regression analysis showed that P2X7R expression, TNM stage and lymph node metastasis were the risk factors of tumor-free survival in NSCLC patients (P?0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that P2X7R expression [OlR=2.082, (95% CI: 1.079, 3.747)] and TNM stage [OlR=3.210, (95% CI: 0.587, 6.448)] were the risk factors of tumor-free survival rate in NSCLC patients. Univariate Cox regression analysis showed that P2X7R expression, TNM stage and lymph node metastasis were the risk factors affecting the overall survival rate of NSCLC patients (P?0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that P2X7R expression [OlR=2.893, (95% CI:1.582, 4.562)] and TNM stage [OlR=1.910, (95% CI: 0.587, 2.449)] were the risk factors affecting the overall survival rate of NSCLC patients. Conclusions The expression of P2X7R may be a new molecular marker affecting the prognosis of NSCLC.