Expression of PRL-2 in non-small cell lung cancer and its correlation with tumor angiogenesis

Purpose To investigate the expression of phosphatase of regenerating liver-2(PRL-2) and its pattern in non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC),and to observe the relationship of PRL-2 expression and angiogenesis.Methods The SP method of immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of PRL-2 in 40 cases NSCLC tissues and 40 cases of normal adjacent tissues from the same lung lobes,to analyze the differences of expression between different clinical and pathological parameters and to investigate the relationship of PRL-2 and tumor angiogenesis by calculating microvessel density(MVD) based on the expression of CD34.Results The positive expression rate of PRL-2 was 65% in NSCLC tissues(26/40),and it had no relationship with the age,sex,smoking history of patients,size and pathologic type of tumors(P0.05),but the expression of PRL-2 was closely correlated with different degree of differentiation,lymph node metastasis and TNM stage of tumors(P0.05).No positive expression of PRL-2 was found in 40 cases corresponding adjacent normal tissues.In addition,the analysis also showed that PRL-2 had positive correlation with MVD in NSCLC tissues(P0.01).Conclusion Compared with normal lung tissues,PRL-2 is highly expressed in NSCLC tissues,which is correlated with the differentiation,lymph node metastasis,TNM stage and MVD,suggesting that the expression of PRL-2 may be associated with tumor angiogenesis.