Expression of TC-1 in NSCLC,lymph node metastasis and its clinical significance

Objective:To investigate the expression of TC-1 protein and analyze the relationship between TC-1expression and pathological types,grades and TNM stages in the non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC).Methods: The expression rate of TC-1 protein in NSCLC was detected with immunohistochemical method-EnVinsion method;the differences of the protein expression among pathological types,grades and TNM stages and lymph node metastasis were analyzed.Results: The TC-1 positive expression was mainly located in the cytoplasm and minimal nucleus.The TC-1 protein was over-expressed in squamous cancer and adenocarcinoma with the 63.46% and 72.09% respectively.There was a significant difference between the two kinds of the cancers(P=0.154).The positive expression rates of highly,moderately and low differentiated lung squamous were 20.00%,65.51%,72.22% respectively with no significant difference(P=0.075),while the positive expression rates of high,moderate and low differentiated lung adenocarcinoma were 33.33%,65.21%,88.23% respectively with extremely significant difference(P=0.005).There was also significant difference among different TNM stages in NSCLC by Kruskal-Wallis test,with the P=0.029.The positive expression rate of the cases with metastasis of lymph node was 90.57%(48/53),however the positive expression rate of the cases without was only 38.09%(16/42),there was significant difference between the cases with or without metastasis of lymph node by Mann-Whitney U test(P=0.000).The TC-1 expression in primary cancer of 53 cases was correlated with the expression in the metastasis cancer of lymph node for the corresponding cases by Spearman test(r=0.39,P=0.000).Conclusion:TC-1 protein is overexpressed in NSCLC,and the expression rate is no relation with pathological type,grade of squamous cell lung cancers,but is related with grade of lung adenocarcinoma,TNM stage of NSCLC and whether or not lymph node metastasis,which suggest that the expression of TC-1 is closely correlated with metastasis in NSCLC.