Expression and clinic pathological features of MMP 2, MMP 9 and VEGF in non - small - cell lung carcinoma

Objective To investigate the expression and clinic pathological features of MMP2,MMP9 and VEGF in non - small - cell lung carcinoma,and provide reference for diagnosis,treatment and prognosis predictment of the disease.Methods MMP 2 and MMP 9,VEGF expressions were detected in 77 cases of non - small - cell lung carcinoma tissues and their adjacent tissues and 24 cases of normal lung tissues by steptavidinperoxdase immunohistochemical technique.Results The immunoreactivities of MMP 2 and MMP 9,VEGF were mainly shown in cytoplasma of tumor cells.The overexpressions of MMP 2 and MMP 9,VEGF in carcinoma tissues were significantly higher than in adjacent tissues ( P ＜ 0.05).The overexpression of MMP 2 and VEGF in the cancer tissues were related to clinical stages,lymph node metastasis status and the size of primary cancer ( P ＜ 0.05 ).There was a trend that the survival rate of these patients with overexpression of MMP 2 and MMP 9,VEGF was lower than that with non - overexpression,but there was no statistical significance.The survival rate of the group with both MMP 2 and MMP 9,VEGF overexpressions was lower than with non - overexpression ( P ＜ 0.05 ).Conclusions MMP 2,MMP 9 and VEGF all take part in the progress of non - small - cell lung carcinoma.We postulate that MMP 2 can cooperate with VEGF in the processes.To investigate the over - expressions of both MMP 2 and MMP 9 in non - small - cell lung carcinoma tissues may be more helpful for estimating the prognosis. Key words: Non -small -cell lung carcinoma; Matrix metalloproteinase; Vascular endothelial growth factor