This result agreed with the conclusions of the study conducted on 82 NSCLCs by Schneider et al (2004), who showed a statistically significant association between high OPN expression and shorter survival, and with the results of one of the first works on OPN expression in 25 lung cancer patients carried out by Chambers et al (1996), who observed a higher OPN immunoreactivity in tumour specimens from patients who had died during follow-up. The gene discussed is SPP1; the disease is lung cancer.