Expression And Significance Of VE-CADHERIN And E-CADHERIN In Human Non-small Cell Lung Cacer

Objective: The aims of our study were to determine the expression of vascular endothelial cadherin(VE-cadherin)and epithelial cadherin (E-cadherin) in the tissues of non-small cell cancer (NSCLC), their correlation and their association with the clinicopathological characteristics of NSCLC.Methods: The expression of VE-cadherin protein and E-cadherin protein was detected with immunohistochemical SP technique in 39 specimens of the tissues of NSCLC and 30 specimens of adjacent nonneoplastic tissues which were away from the tumorous tissues at least 5cm.Results: The positive rates of VE-cadherin and E-cadherin in the tissues of NSCLC were 51.3%(20/39) and 43.6%(17/39)respectively. The positive rate of VE-cadherin in the tissues of NSCLC was higher than that in adjacent nonneoplastic tissues 26.7%(8/30)(P<0.05), while the positive rate of E-cadherin in the tissues of NSCLC was lower than that in adjacent nonneoplastic tissues 73.3%(22/30) (P<0.05). The positive rate of VE-cadherin increased with the lymph node metastasis (P<0.05), but was not associated with sex, age, smoking, histological classification, differentiation, primary tumor and clinical stages(P>0.05). The positive rate of E-cadherin decreased with the lymph node metastasis (P<0.05), but was not associated with sex, age, smoking, histological classification, differentiation, primary tumor and clinical stages(P > 0.05), too. The expression of VE-cadherin in the tissues of NSCLC is not correlated with that of E-cadherin(r=-0.014, P=0.934).Conclusions: 1.We define the over-expression of VE-cadherin in the tissues of NSCLC, while the expression of E-cadherin in the tissues of NSCLC is downregulated. Both of them associate with the lymph node metastasis. And these indicate that both of them may take part in the growth and metastasis of NSCLC. 2.There is no correlation between the expression of VE-cadherin and E-cadherin in the tissues of NSCLC.