Expression of Osteopontin in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer and Correlative Relation with Microvascular Density

Background and
Objective: Lung cancer is one of the malignant diseases which most seriously threathumansurvival and development. This study aimed to assess osteopontin (OPN) expression in non-small cell lungcancer (NSCLC) and any relationship with clinicopathological features.
Methods: Immunohistochemistry wasused to determine OPN expression and microvascular density (MVD) in 120 cases of NSCLC also undergoingclinical assessment.
Results: Moderately positive expression of OPN was found in 34.6% (41/120) and strongexpression in 47.5% (57/120) of the NSCLCs; OPN expression in carcinomas was higher than in pericarcinomatissues (P<0.05). While no obvious association was observed with NSCLC patient age, gender, maximum diameterof the tumor and pathological type, OPN expression was more commonly detected in poorly differentiatedcarcinoma tissue and lymph node metastasis as well as at advanced clinical stage (P<0.05); OPN expression incancer tissue was positively correlated with MVD (r = 0.839, P = 0.000).
Conclusion: OPN plays an importantrole in promoting tumor angiogenesis and progress of NSCLCs and has the possibility to become the new targetfor therapy.