The Expression and Significance of VEGF and MMP-9 in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Objective To determine the expression of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor(VEGF) and Matrix Metalloproteinases-9(MMP-9) in non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) specimens and try to find out the possible roles of VEGF and MMP-9 in the invasion and metastasis of NSCLC.Methods Immunohistochemical SABC method was used to detect the expression of VEGF and MMP-9 in 23 non-cancerous pulmonary diseases tissues,30 normal lung tissues near the NSCLC and 111 NSCLC tissues.Results The expression levels of VEGF and MMP-9 in the NSCLC tissues were significantly higher than those of the control groups(P0.05).The expression of VEGF and MMP-9 were higher in low differentiated lung cancer tissue than those in higher differentiated lung cancer tissues(P0.05).The positive rate of MMP-9 in adenocarcinoma was remarkably higher than that in squamous cell carcinoma(P0.05).Expression rate of VEGF and MMP-9 had positive relation with P-TNM stage(P0.05).Expression rate of VEGF had positive relation with tumor volume(P0.05).The positive rate of VEGF and MMP-9 were significantly higher in tumors with lymph node metastasis than those without lymphatic metastasis(P0.05).The patients survival for 1 and 3 years had much higher VEGF and MMP-9 expression rate than those for 5 years(P0.05).Conclusion VEGF and MMP-9 may play important roles in NSCLC invasion and metastasis,their expression may act as a reference to evaluate metastasis and prognosis of NSCLC.