The Expression Of Hepatocyte Growth Factor And Its Receptor C-Met In Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma And The Correlation With Lymphangiogenesis And Metastasis

Objective:To detect the levels of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and its receptorc-Met in the serum of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), and toinvestigate the expressive levels of HGF, c-Met and D2-40in NPC tissues; andanalysis the lymphatic vessel density (LVD) of NPC tissue and theircorrelation with clinicopathological factors in NPC; and study affect ofHGF/c-Met on possible mechanism of lymph node metastasis in NPC.Methods:Enzyme immunoassay (Eliasa) methods was used to detect the levels ofHGF and c-Met in the serum of68NPC patients and20healthy persons(control group). Immunohistochemistry methods was used to detect theexpression of HGF, c-Met and LVD was labeled through anti-D2-40monocloneantibody immunostaine in60NPC paraffin embeded tissues and10mildnasopharyngitis paraffin embeded tissues. Result:(1) The serum level of HGF of NPC patiants was1.48±0.55(ng/ml),and the c-Met was15.53±6.72(ng/ml); the serum level of HGF of controllgroup was0.400±0.148(ng/ml), and the c-Met was3.46±3.05(ng/ml).The levels of HGF and c-Met in NPC group were significantly higher than thecontrol group.(2) The serum level of HGF had the positive correlation withTNM stage, clinical stage, lymph node invasion and metastasis (P<0.05). Nocorrelation was found in age and tumor diameter. The serum level of c-Met hadthe positive correlation with lymph node invasion, clinical stage, and metastasis(P<0.05). No correlation was found in age and tumor diameter.(3) HGF andc-Met was expressed mainly in cytoplasm of NPC cells. The expressive rate ofHGF and c-Met in NPC were83.33%and85.00%.(4) The expression of HGFin NPC tissues had the positive correlation with lymph node invasion andmetastasis (P<0.05). No correlation was found in age, tumor diameter andclincal stage.(5) The expression of of c-Met in NPC tissues had the positivecorrelation with lymph node invasion (P<0.05). No correlation was found intumor diameter, clinical stage and metastasis.(6) In60cases of NPC, there were42cases where the expression of HGF and c-Met was positive simultaneously.The simultaneously negative was8cases. Correlation coefficient showed thatHGF had a positive correlation with c-Met in NPC (r=0.243, P<0.05).(7) TheLVD in NPC group were significantly higher than the control group (5.79± 2.69vs4.31±1.29, P<0.05); the peritumoral LVD (pLVD) in NPC weresignificantly higher than intratumoral LVD (iLVD)(7.22±3.77vs4.35±2.45,P<0.05).(8) Compared with the none-lymph node involvement group, pLVDwas increased in patients with lymph node metastasis (7.35±3.96vs6.24±1.56, P<0.01).(9) pLVD was increased with the N stage of tumor (γ=0.479,P=0.001); No differences obviously of the pLVD was founded betweensexuality, age, TNM stage and clinical stage (P>0.05).(10) The pLVD in NPCtissues had no correlation with lymph node invasion and metastasis. The iLVDin NPC tissues had no correlation with age, tumor diameter, clinical stage,lymph node invasion and metastasis.(11) The LVD in the HGF-positive groupwas higher than that in the HGF-negative group (P<0.05).Conclusion:(1) The levels of HGF and c-Met serum has correlation with lymph nodeinvasion and metastasis in the NPC..(2) The pLVD has correlation with lymphnode invasion and clinical stage in the NPC. The pLVD in NPC has correlationwith the expression of HGF, but it has no correlation with the expression ofc-Met.