The present study found that the expression of 15-PGDH was low in the human NSCLC tissues compared with the normal lung tissues, which is consistent with the downregulation of 15-PGDH in numerous human cancer specimens, including those of lung (19), colorectal (20,21), gastric (10,22), breast (7), bladder (11) and pancreatic (8) cancers. Here, HPGD is linked to cancer.