Expression of VEGF and TIMP-2 in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and their clinical significance

Objective To investigate the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF), tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2) in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma(LSCC) and their clinical significance.Methods Envision immunohistochemical technique was used to detect the expression of VEGF and TIMP-2 in 38 LSCC tissues and 19 normal laryngeal mucosa tissues(NLT) adjacent to the tumors. Results The expression of VEGF and TIMP-2 was higher in LSCC(94.74%, 52.63%) than in NLT(64.42%,21.05%)(χ2=5.253,χ2=3.967, P0.05). A positive correlation was found between VEFG abd TIMP-2 expression(rs=0.558, P0.05) in LSCC. The expression of VEGF was lower in glottic LSCC tissue(88.89%,χ2=25.735), stage Ⅰ+Ⅱ(88.89%,χ2=12.539) and high cell differentiation group (85.71%,χ2=93.145) than that in supraglottic LSCC tissue(100.00%), stage Ⅲ+Ⅳ(100.00%) and moderate cell differentiation group(100.00%) respectively (P0.05). The expression of TIMP-2 was higher in glottic LSCC tissue(55.56%,χ2=20.154), moderate cell differentiation(70.83%,χ2=26.957) and no cervical lymphaic metastasis(61.54%,χ2=6.748) group than that in supraglottic LSCC(50.00%), high cell differentiation(21.43%) and cervical lymphaic metastasis group (33.33%) respectively (P0.05).Conclusions The expression of VEGF and TIMP-2 was higher in LSCC than that in NLT. The expression of the two markers was significantly different between glottic and supraglottic LSCC. The expression of VEGF might be related to the site of LSCC, clinical stage and histological grade. The expression of TIMP-2 might be related to the histological grade of the tumor and the occurance of cervical lympatic node metastasis.