Study Of The Expression Of TSP-1 And VEGF In Cervical Lesions And Relationship With Angiogenesis

Objective To study the expression of thrombospondin-1(TSP-1),vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) and microvessel density(MVD) in cervicitis,cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and cervical carcinoma. Explore the role of TSP-1 and VEGF in the pathogenesis of cervical lesions and analyze their relationship with angiogenesis of cervical carcinoma.Methods Immunohistochemical SP method was employed to detect TSP-1,VEGF and MVD(labeled with CD34 antibodies )in 10 cases of cervicitis, 13 cases of CINⅠ, 22 cases of CINⅡ～CINⅢand 48 cases of cervical carcinoma r.Results1. The expression rates of TSP-1 in cervicitis,CINⅠ,CINⅡ～Ⅲand cervical carcinoma groups were 90.00%,76.92%,36.36% and 29.16% respectively. TSP-1 was mainly localized at the basal epithelial cells of cervicitis and CINⅠ. The expression of TSP-1 was gradually decreased with the progressive cervical lesions. The expression of TSP-1 in cervical carcinoma and CINⅡ～Ⅲgroups were significantly lower than in cervicitis and CINⅠgroup(P<0.05). But there was no significant differences in the expression of TSP-1 between cervicitis and CINⅠ,CINⅡ～Ⅲand cervical carcinoma groups(P>0.05). In cervical carcinoma group the TSP-1 expression was associated with histopathological grade and lymph node metastasis(P<0.05).2. The expression rates of VEGF in cervicitis,CINⅠ,CINⅡ～Ⅲand cervical carcinoma groups were 0,23.08%,40.90% and 66.67% respectively. VEGF expression was not found in cervicitis tissues. The VEGF expression was gradually increased with the progressive cervical lesions. The expression of VEGF in cervical carcinoma group was significantly higher than in cervicitis,CINⅠand CINⅡ～Ⅲgroups(P<0.05), and in CINⅡ～Ⅲgroup was significantly higher than in cervicitis group(P<0.05). But there was no significant differences in the expression of VEGF between cervicitis and CINⅠ,CINⅠa nd CINⅡ～Ⅲgroups(P>0.05). In cervical carcinoma group the VEGF expression was associated with histopathological grade,clinic stage and lymph node metastasis(P<0.05).3. The mean MVD counts for cervicitis,CINⅠ,CINⅡ～Ⅲand cervical carcinoma groups were 6.8±1.9,13.0±3.6,22.7±4.4 and 31.0±5.3 respectively. The MVD count were gradually increased with the progressive cervical lesions, their were significant differences in the expression of MVD counts between all groups(P<0.05).In cervical carcinoma group the MVD counts was associated with histopathological grade and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05).4. In cervical lesions TSP-1 expression was negatively correlated to the MVD counts(rs=-0.624,P<0.01) and VEGF expression(rs=-0.358,P<0.05) ,VEGF expression was positively correlated to the MVD counts(rs =0.538,P<0.01) .Cervical carcinoma tissues expressing VEGF had a significantly higher MVD than those non-expressing VEGF (P<0.05),expressing TSP-1 had a significantly lower MVD than those non-expressing TSP-1 (P<0.05). Cervical carcinoma tissues expressing VEGF and non-expressing TSP-1 had a significantly higher MVD counts than those non-expressing VEGF and expressing TSP-1(P<0.05). There were significantly differences between VEGF positive and TSP-1 positive in cervical carcinoma group(P<0.05). Conclusion The decreased expression of TSP-1 and increased expression of VEGF in cervical lesions may occurred during the CIN period and may be involved in cervical lesions progression and cervical carcinoma angiogenesis. TSP-1,VEGF and MVD may be used as biomarkers in the screening, diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer.