Expression And Their Clinical Significance Of E-cadherin And MMP-13 In NSCLC

Objective: To determine the expression of E-cadherin, matrix metalloproteinase - 13 (MMP-13) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and investigate their association with the invasion and metastasis of NSCLC. Methods: The expression of E-cad and MMP-13 were detected in 70 NSCLC tissues and 30 in adjacent non tumor tissue by immunohistochemistry SP methods, and the correlation was analyzed statistically between the expression of these proteins and the clinicopathologic parameter and the prognosis of patients. Results: The expression of E-cad was located in cell membrane, The expressive positive rate of E-cad was 58.6%(41/ 70) in NSCLC and 80.0%(24/ 30) in normal lung tissues, a significant difference was observed between the two groups (P<0.05). The expression of MMP-13 was located in cytoplasm. The expressive positive rate of MMP-13 was 72.9%(51/ 70), There wasn't expression in the para-cancerous normal lung tissue. The relation between the expression of MMP-13 and E-cad and clinicopathoigical character: The overexpression rate of MMP-13 and lower expression rate of E-cad were significantly related to grading,TNM stage and lymph node metastasis(P<0.05). Expression of MMP-13 and E-cad in NSCLC have no significant link with pathological type, age, sex, whether smoking (P>0.05). There was a negative correlation between expression of MMP-13 and E-cad (r=-0.477,P<0.01). Univariate analysis showed a significant association of MMP-13 expression with shortened survival(P<0.05)and a significant association of E-cad expression with lengthened survival(P<0.00). Grading and lower expression of E-cad were independent prognostic factors of NSCLC by cox regression analysis(P<0.05). Conclusion: The higher expression of MMP-13 and lower expression of E-cad have the positive correlation with the higher proliferation, lower differentiation, easy metastasis of NSCLC, They may be useful prognostic markers in assessing biological behavior and metastatic potential of NSCLC, and E-cad may be used as a predicting marker of the prognosis of NSCLC.