The outcome of surgical treatment of non small cell lung carcinoma(NSCLC) remains poor. In many patients the biological behavior of NSCLC does not follow a definite pattern, and can not be accurately predicted before treatment. Thus the proliferative potential of tumour cells, angiogenesis and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) are important prognostic factorc. In present study, expression of cyclin D1, CD34, MMP-2 and AgNORs count was estimated in a group of 80 surgically resected NSCLC using immunohistochemistry. The results were compared with clinicopathological parameters including patients' survival. 41 cases (51.3%) revealed positive immunoreactivity for cyclin D1. Cyclin D1 overexpression is significantly higher (< 0.05) in patients with lymph node metastasis (63.3% versus 15%), and with advanced pathological stages (stageI, 12.5%, II 37.5%, III 60% and IV 86.7%). Patients with cyclin D1 positive immunoreactivity revealed a significantly shorter overall survival than patients with negativity. There is no significant correlation (p > 0.05) between CD34 score and histological type and grade, while there is significant positive correlation (p < 0.05) between high CD34 score and lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, tumour stage and shorter over survival. No significant correlation (p > 0.05) were found between MMP-2 expression and histological type, grade and lymph node metastasis. In contrast, the intensity of MMp-2 staining in tumor cells correlated significantly (p < 0.05) with tumor stage and distant metastasis. Overall survival was shorter in patients with MMP-2 expression, although the difference does not reach statistical significant. AgNORs count was found to correlate significantly (p < 0.05) with tumor grade, and the size shape and distribution pattern was found to show a characteristic difference between non-neoplastic and neoplastic lesions. In conclusion, an overexpression of MMP-2 and high AgNORs count are a poor prognostic factors for NSCLC, also MMP-2 and AgNORs can be used to differentiate between non-neoplastic and neoplastic lung lesions |
