The Significance Of The Expression Of CD68and E-cad In Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Tissues

Objective: Recent reports suggested that tumor associated macrophage(TAM) and epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) play an important role inthe process of tumor progression. The aim of the study was to explore theexpression of CD68and E-cad protein by using immunohistochemicalmethod(SP), investigate relationship between CD68and E-cad andclinicopathological factors such as gender, age, pathological subtypes,differentiation degrees, TNM stages, lymph node metastasis, pleural invasionand prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). To investigate therelationship between tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment and EMT.Methods:152cases of NSCLC patients had operated in Hebei Province People’sHospital, from January2006to December2008, detect the protein expressionof CD68and E-cad in carcinoma tissues and adjacent tissues by SPimmunohistochemistry. To investigate the correlation of CD68, E-cad and theclinical features of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer.2Immunohistochemistry examin： CD68, E-cad: The staining intensity wasscored as follows:0=no staining;1=light yellow granules;2=dark yellow;3=brown granules. The percentage of positive cells was scored as follows:0=≤10%;1=11-30%;2=31-60%;3=>60%. The labeling score defined by plusthe percentage of positive cells and the staining intensity was the final scorefor the section. When the total score≥4was defined as positive;<4wasdefined as negative.3All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS16.0for Windowssoftware. The chi-square test was used to analyze immunohistochemistry data.The Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to look for correlation betweenthe expression of CD68, E-cad and patient’s survival time, statistical significance was analyzed using the log-rank test. Spearman rank test wasused to analyze the correlation between the expression of CD68and E-cad. P<0.05were considered statistically significant.Results:1Expression of CD68in NSCLC:Expression of CD68in carcinoma tissues and adjacent tissues was75.0%(39/52),15.4%(8/52). There was statistical significance between groups(P<0.05).The results showed that the positive expression of CD68wassignificantly correlated with TNM stage, lymph node metastasis, and pleuralinvasion (P<0.05). While there was no significance difference btween theexpression of CD68with gender, age, pathology type and differentiationdegrees (P>0.05). The positive expression of CD68in patients withⅠ-Ⅱstage, Ⅲ-IVstage was65.7%(23/35),94.1%(16/17); with lymph nodemetastasis and without lymph node metastasis was90.9%(20/22),63.3%(19/30); with pleural invasion and without pleural invasion was92.6%(25/27),56.0%(14/25).The1-,3-,5-years survival rate of CD68positive expression group was84.6%,46.2%,2.6%; vas92.3%,76.9%,46.2%in CD68negative group.With Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis, the expression of CD68wasnegatively correlated with survival (P<0.05), and it is the independentprognostic factors.2Expression of E-cad in NSCLC:Expression of E-cad in carcinoma tissues and adjacent tissues was46.2%(24/52),94.2%(49/52). There was statistical significance between groups(P<0.05).The results showed that the positive expression of E-cad wassignificantly correlated with TNM stage, lymph node metastasis, and pleuralinvasion (P<0.05). While there was no significance difference btween theexpression of E-cad with gender, age, pathology type and differentiationdegrees (P>0.05). The positive expression of E-cad in patients withⅠ-Ⅱ stage, Ⅲ-IV stage was62.9%(22/35),11.8%(2/17); with lymph nodemetastasis and without lymph node metastasis was18.2%(14/22),66.7%(20/30); with pleural invasion and without pleural invasion was25.9%(7/27),68.0%(17/25).The1-,3-,5-years survival rate of E-cad (+) group was91.7%,75.0%,25.0%; vas82.1%,35.7%,3.6%in E-cad (-) group. With Kaplan-Meiersurvival curve analysis, the expression of E-cad was positive correlated withsurvival (P<0.05), but it is not the independent prognostic factors.3The relationship between expression of CD68and E-cad in carcinomatissues:In52patients, the cases of CD68and E-cad co-positive was12, CD68positive while E-cad negative cases was27, CD68negative while E-cadpositive cases was12, the cases of CD68and E-cad co-negative was1. Therewas statistical significance between groups (χ2=14.857， P<0.05). WithSpearman rank test, there was a negative correlation between CD68and E-cadin the NSCLC tissues (r=-0.535).Conclusions：1The positive expression of CD68in carcinoma tissues was significantlyhigher than adjacent tissues; The positive expression of E-cad in carcinomatissues was significantly lower than adjacent tissues. It was a negativecorrelation between TAM and EMT in the NSCLC cancer tissues.2Expression of CD68and E-cad in carcinoma tissues were all statisticallyassociated with the TNM stages, lymph node metastasis and pleural invasionin NSCLC patients. TNM stages, CD68is the independent prognosticfactors,without E-cad.