Contralateral thoracic or distant metastases (32 out of 79 in adenocarcinomas and 47 out of 79 in squamous cell carcinomas, P=0.23) were associated significantly with diffuse (>60% immunoreactive tumour cells) fascin expression in adenocarcinomas (P=0.043), and marginally with strong fascin immunostaining in squamous cell carcinomas (P=0.13). This evidence concerns the gene FSCN1 and adenocarcinoma.