Expressions of HGF and its receptor c-met in non-small-cell lung cancer and its association with lymphangiogenesis / 肿瘤研究与临床

ABSTRACT

Objective To test the expression of HGF and its receptor c-met and to evaluate their relationship to lymphangiogenesis in NSCLC. Methods Immunohistochemical study was used to determine the lymphatic microvessel density (LMVD) and the expression of HGF and its receptor c-met in 113 patients with NSCLC and 20 normal lung tissue samples.Results The levels of expression of HGF (67.3 %) and c-met (74.3 %) in NSCLC tissues were significantly higher than that in normal lung tissues (20.0 %, 25.0 %respectively), (u=4.008, 4.342; both P ＜0.05).The expressions of HGF and c-met in NSCLC tissues had no correlation to age, gender, tumor size and differentiation grade.However, the expression of HGF and c-met was positively correlated to TNM stage and lymph node metastasis.In NSCLC samples, HGF and c-met were significantly associated with LMVD contrast to normal sample (HGF 16.3051±5.3753 vs 10.9934±4.9668,t =4.58; c-met 15.6692±5.5386 vs 11.3700±5.3875, t =3.97, both P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion The high expression of HGF and its receptor c-met is closely correlated with LMVD and metastasis of lymph nodes, which indicates that HGF and c-met may play an important role in lymphangiogenesis and lymphatic metastasis in NSCLC.