Clinical Study On The Expression Of E-cad, CD44v6 And C-erbB-2 In Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

The lung cancer is one of carcinomas which has the highest prevalence and fatality rate in the world at present, and its invasion and metastasis can result in patient death. To investigate the mechanism of metastasis and to find a way for therapy are principal study of lung cancer. Carcinoma metastusis is a complicated progression, including multiple steps and factors. The mechanism involves cell adhesion molecules ( CAMs) , matrix metalloproteinase, cytokine, the mechanism of signal transduction and related gene mutation. Studies showed that CAMs were not only involved in the whole process of carcinoma metastasis, but also plaied a key role in it. First the tumor cells should detach from the primary carcinoma and can tran slocate through the effect of cell adhesion. The locomotive force of tumor cells account for the persistant cell adhesion and deadhesion. The progression of tumor cell invasion and metastasis is developed with the progression of tumor cell adhesion and deadhersion. The epithelial cadherin(E-cad) and CD44v6 are both kinds of CAMs, and it is considered that its are strongly associated with invasion metastasis of carcinomas. The oncogene c-erbB-2 protein has the activated of tyrosine kinase, and play an important role in the signal transduction. Recent research worke showed that c-erbB-2 could mediate the function of CAM, and was associated with invasion and metastasis of the carcinoma. However, the relationship between these bio-markers in the biologic behaviors and lymphnode metastasis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remained to be studied. In this study the immunohistochemical streptavidin-biotin peroxidase complex (SABC) technique was used to detect the expression of E-cad, CD44v6 and c-erbB-2 in NSCLC and normal lung tissues. The relationship between these bio-markers and the biologic behaviors on NSCLC and the degree of relationship to their expression in NSCLC with lymph node metastasis were studied.Materials and Methods: 1. 65 surgically resected primary NSCLC specimens and 20normal lung tissue specimens which were adjacent to lung tissue were collected. All the tissue were fixed in 10% neutral formalin and embedded in paraffin. 2. SABC immunohistochemical method was used to detect the expression level of E-cad, CD44v6 and c-erbB-2; 3. Chi-square test and exact probability-test ware preformed for statistical analysis in this study, statistical significance was determined when two-sided P volue was less than 0.05.Results: 1. In normal lung tissue, the immunohistocheniical staining of E-cad protein was mainly located in the surface with the positive rate of 100%. In NSCLC, the expression of E-cad was not even and partly located in the cytoplasm with the positive rate of 32.3%. E-cad protein expression was found to be significant differences (P<0.05) in the NSCLC compared with normal lung tissue. The positive rate of E-cad in sqnamous carcinoma was 34.3% and the adenocarcinoma 30.3%. No Significant difference (P>0.05) were found between the two grougs. The positive rate of E-cad in the histological grade I+II was 45.5% and the grade III 18.8%. Significant difference (P<0.05 ) were found between two groups. E-cad protein expression was significantly higher (P<0.05) in the stage I+II than in the stage III-IV with the positive rate of 45.7% and 16.7% respectively. In the group with lymph node metastasis and the group without lymph node metastasis, the positive rate of E-cad were 21.1% and 48.1% respectively. There were significant differences (P<0.05) of the expression of E-cad betwten the two groups. 2. positive staining of CD44v6 mainly located in the cytoplasm and/or in the surface of NSCLC cells with the positive rate of 69.2%. No distinct staining was detected in the normal lung tissue. There were significant difference (P<0.05) when compression was made between NSCLC group and normal lung tissue group. The positive rate of CD44v6 in squamous carcinoma was 78.1% and the adenocarcinoma 60.6%. No significant difference ( P>0.05 ) were found between the two groups. The frequ...