Pioglitazone Hydrochloride in Treating Patients With Stage IA-IIIA Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To evaluate the mechanism(s) of action of pioglitazone as a candidate chemopreventive agent for lung cancer by investigating the effects on Ki-67 defined in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumor tissue. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To determine the effects of pioglitazone on multiple markers listed below: * Tumor tissue: caspase-3, cyclin D1, p21/Waf1, peroxisome proliferative activated receptor, gamma (PPARγ), mucin 1 (MUC1). * Premalignant tissue: Ki-67, caspase-3, PPARγ. * Histologically normal tissue: Ki-67, PPARγ. II. To evaluate the toxicity and safety of pioglitazone in this patient population. III. To analyze the expression of serum markers that are affected by pioglitazone. IV. To describe the effects of limited treatment with pioglitazone on tumor metabolic activity as determined by FDG-PET (assessed before and after a minimum of 2 weeks of treatment). OUTLINE: Patients receive pioglitazone hydrochloride orally (PO) once daily (QD) for 14-42 days. Patients then undergo surgery.