The expression and clinical significance of integrin α_vβ_3 and VEGF in prostate carcinoma

Objective To study expression of integrin αvβ3 and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) in prostate carcinoma(PCa),and to evaluate their clinical significance.Methods Using streptavidin-biotinperoxidase(S-P) method,we studied the expression of integrin αvβ3 and VEGF protein in 20 normal prostate(NP) tissues and 41 prostate cancer tissue of various pathological type and clinical stage. Results Immunohistochemicaly,integrin αvβ3 and VEGF protein were lowly expressed in normal prostatet issues.However,the expression of these proteins was increased in PCa tissues compared to normal ones(P0.01).Within the specimens of PCa group,the differences were statistically significant among various WHO pathological grades and clinical stages(P0.05).There was a negative correlation between the expression of integrin αvβ3 and VEGF and pathological grades(P0.01),and a positive correlation between the expression of integrin αvβ3 and VEGF(P0.05).Within the specimens of PCa group,differences of the expression of integrin αvβ3 andVEGF were statistically insignificant among various preoperative serum prostate-specific a-ntigen levels(P0.05).The expression of integrin αvβ3 was positively correlated with the expression of VEGF(rs=0.220),and the differences were statistically significant(P0.05).Conclusion The expression of integrin αvβ3 and VEGF proteins was increased in PCa tissues compared to normal ones,which indicated integrin αvβ3 and VEGF might play an important role in the malignant progression of PCa,and could serve as a marker of malignant potential and prognosis of PCa.