Expression of Elf-1 and survivin and their clinical implication in non-small cell lung cancer.

Objective To study the expression of Elf-1 and relationship with survivin and biological behaveior in non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC).Methods Tissue microarray from 72 cases of NSCLC was developed.The expression of Elf-1 and survivin were detected by immuno-histochemistry staining with PV-9000 method.Results Elf-1 was mostly located in nucleus and in cytoplasm.The positive expression of Elf-1 was observed in 53 cases(73.61%),and its intensity of expression was related to the differentiation stages of the cancer(χ2 =14.849,P=0.021),and significant differences were observed between different clinical stages(χ2 =24.127,P=0.000).The intensity of Elf-1 expression was significantly higher in the group with lymph node metastasis than that without(χ2 =18.342,P=0.000);Positive expression of survivin was also observed in 44 cases(61.11%),its intensity of expression was related to the differentiation stages of the cancer(χ2=16.251,P=0.012),and significant differences were noticed between different clinical stages(χ2 =20.570,P=0.000).The intensity of survivin expression was significantly higher in the group with lymph node metastasis than that without(χ2=8.723,P=0.033);Positive correlation was found between the expression intensity of Elf-1 and survivin(τ=0.255,P0.05).Conclusion The expression intensity of Elf-1 is closely correlated with survivin.The expression of Elf-1 and wurvivin is related to differentiation degree,clinical stage and lymph node metastasis of non-small-cell lung cancer.Elf-1 and survivin might serve as important parameters in evaluating biological behaviors of non-small-cell lung cancer.