BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE.

Worldwide, bronchogenic carcinoma is the most common cause of cancer-related deaths

in men and women. Incidence and mortality attributed to lung cancer has risen steadily since
the 1930s, predominantly due to the popularity of cigarette smoking. In the past 100 years,
lung cancer has therefore been transformed from a rare disease into a global problem.
( Ridge et al., 2013).

Non small type lung cancer are divided in two major pathological subtypes,
adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, constituting the vast majority of diagnosed
lung cancers, but they show different characteristics, as well as therapeutic methods.
Therefore, accurate differentiation is important.
(Zhan et al., 2015).

High level of TFF3 were detected in serum and lung tissues, suggesting that TFF3 may
serve as a promising, easily detected biomarker of lung cancer.
( Qu et al., 2012).

The trefoil factor family of peptides contains 3 small secreted proteins as members (TFF3),
previously designated as intestinal trefoil factor (ITF) or hP1.B, contains 59 amino acid
residues with 1 trefoil domain and a molecular weight approximating 7kDa (monomer) or
14kDa (dimer). TFF3 protein has been reported to be expressed in normal lung, colon,
stomach, pancreas, trachea, spleen, liver, and uterus. Recent studies have also shown that
TFF3 expression is increased in carcinoma and is involved in tumor cell growth, scattering,
invasion, and metastasis.
(Wang et al., 2015).