Expression and Correlation Analysis of Clinical Pathological Characteristics of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor, Matrix Metalloproteinases and Microvessel Density in Lung Cancer with Bone Metastasis

Abstract

Lung cancer is a common malignant tumor in clinic and easy to have bone metastases. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an angiogenic factor. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) is associated with invasion and metastases. This study was to detect VEGF, microvessel density (MVD), MMP-2 and MMP-9 (MMP-2/9) levels in the serum and tissues of lung cancer patients with bone metastases to analyze the relaitonship between these changes and lung cancer with bone metastases. 60 patients with metastatic tumor of lung cancer were selected as experimental group, primary malignant tumor of bone and benign osteoma were regarded as control group, the contents of VEGF, MMP-2/9 in blood and tissues were analyzed by ELISA and IHC, respectively. VEGF, MVD, MMP-2/9 levels in serum and tissues of lung cancer bone metastasis group were significantly higher than that of primary bone tumor group and benign bone tumor group and their changes were significantly associated with pathological types of lung cancer, numbers and sizes of primary foci, numbers of bone metastases, other organ metastases and whether or not receiving radiotherapy and chemotherapy (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the level of VEGF, MVD, MMP-2/9 is significantly elevated in lung cancer patients with bone metastases, suggesting that these molecules might be involved in the pathogenesis of lung cancer with bone metastases.