Association of CT perfusion imaging with plasma levels of TGF-β1 and VEGF in patients with NSCLC

OBJECTIVE: To study the association of CT perfusion imaging parameters with plasma level of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and vascular endothelial growth (VEGF) in patients with non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: A total of 67 patients with NSCLC (NSCLC group) and 64 patients with benign lesion (control group) were given with CT perfusion imaging to obtain blood flow, blood volume, mean transit time, time to peal and permeability surface through CT perfusion software. The plasma levels of TGF-β1 and VEGF were tested by ELISA. The relationship between plasma levels of TGF-β1, VEGF and CT perfusion imaging parameters were analyzed. RESULTS: CT perfusion imaging parameters and the plasma levels of TGF-β1 and VEGF of NSCLC group were significantly higher than the control group (P < 0.05), while CT perfusion parameters and the levels of TGF-β1 and VEGF in NSCLC group showed significant difference in different tumor node metastasis stages (P < 0.05). Correlation analysis showed that the level of plasma TGF-β1 and VEGF were positively correlated with blood flow, blood volume, and mean transit time (P < 0.05), and negatively correlated with time to peal (P < 0.05). There was no significant correlation between TGF-β1 and VEGF with the permeability surface. CONCLUSIONS: CT perfusion imaging parameters in patients with NSCLC is closely associated with plasma TGF-β1, VEGF and its biological characteristics. CT perfusion imaging is a convenient method to detect tumor blood perfusion.