Expression Of Upa And Microvessel Density Correlate With Invasion And Metasasis Of Hypoharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinmoma

Objective To explore the difference between the expressions of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and microvessel density (MVD) in affected tissue and adjacent normal tissue of hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HSCC) and to study their correlation with invasion and metastasis of HSCC.Methods The expressions of uPA and MVD of 60 patients with HSCC and 20 cases of paraneoplastic tissues were detected with the SP immunohistochemical staining. The relations between the expressions of uPA and MVD and the clinicopathological parameters of HSCC were analyzed by statistical methods. The correlation between MVD and uPA in patients with HSCC was analyzed by Spearman correlation analysis. The level of significance was set at P<0.05.Results The positive expression rates of uPA in patients with HSCC were 78.33%, which was significantly higher than that in paraneoplastic tissues(.P<0.01). The uPA positive expression was closely correlated with the clinical stage, pathological differentiation and lymph node metastases of hypopharyngeal carcinoma (P<0.05). MVD counting was also correlated with the clinical stage, pathological differentiation and lymph node metastases of hypopharyngeal carcinoma (P<0.05 or 0.01). Neither was significantly correlated with the patient age and the primary anatomic area of HSCC. Expression of uPA had a positive correlation with MVD(r=0.561, P<0.01) in patients with HSCC. The cervical lymph node metastatic rate in patients with uPA positive-expression and high MVD value was 90.91% (20/22), which was significantly higher than that in patients with uPA positive-expression but low MVD value (52.00%), and that in patients with uPA negative-expression and low MVD value (30.77%) (x2=9.538, P<0.05).Conclusion1. The positive expression rates of uPA and MVD counting in patients with HSCC were significantly higher than that in paraneoplastic tissues. The uPA positive expression and MVD counting were closely correlated with the clinical stage, pathological differentiation and lymph node metastases of hypopharyngeal carcinoma. Expression of uPA had a positive correlation with MVD in patients with HSCC.2. The active angiogenesis and uPA positive-expression are closely correlated with the invasion and metastasis of HSCC. HSCC with uPA positive-expression and high MVD value are susceptible to invasion and cervical lymphatic metastasis. Therefore, uPA and MVD counting may be used as effective indices to evaluate the possibility of invasion and metastasis of HSCC.3. The expression of uPA and MVD counting can be used as an important index for the capacity of growth,invasion and metastasis in the hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas.