Human protease-activated receptor-1 and 4 (PAR-1 and PAR-4) expression in stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

7160 Background: PAR-1 and PAR-4 are reported to play a major role in extracellular matrix invasion by tumor cells and in the neoangiogenesis process (Even-Ram et al. Thrombin receptor overexpression in malignant and physiological invasion processes. Nat Med 1998; 4: 909–914). We investigated the expression of these receptors in 60 cases of radically resected stage IB (pT2N0) NSCLC [30 adenocarcinomas (AC) and 30 squamous cell carcinomas (SCC)] and their correlation with microvessel density (MVD) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in tumor cells. Methods: Tumor samples were stained using an immunohistochemical technique with the following antibodies: anti-PAR-1 (clone WEDE 15), anti-PAR-4 (goat policlonal antibody), anti-VEGF (clone sc7269), and anti-CD34 (clone Qbend10), evaluating the percentage of positive cells. MVD was quantified according to CD34 staining. Results: All evaluated parameters were significantly higher in AC when compared to SCC. In particular, PAR-1 was expressed ...