Segawa Yuichi, Oda Yoshinao, Yamamoto Hidetaka, Shiratsuchi Hideki, Hirakawa Naoya, Komune Shizuo, Tsuneyoshi Masazumi
Department of Anatomic Pathology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
Oncol Rep. 2009 May;21(5):1197-202. doi: 10.3892/or_00000341.
The CXCL12/CXCR4 pathway, which is involved in biological phenomena such as inflammation, lymphoid homing and regeneration, may play an important role in tumor progression and distant metastasis, especially in organ-selective metastasis. In addition, the CXCL12/CXCR4 pathway has been reported to regulate tumor angiogenesis. In this study, we examined the immunohistochemical expression of CXCR4 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. CXCR4 and VEGF mRNAs were also assessed by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Overexpression of CXCR4 and VEGF was observed in 41 (53.9%) and 30 (39.5%) of 76 tumors, respectively. There was a significant positive correlation between immunohistochemical CXCR4 and VEGF expression (p=0.0339). Additionally, immunohistochemical CXCR4 expression was associated with CXCR4 mRNA expression, and immunohistochemical VEGF expression was associated with VEGF mRNA expression (p=0.0040 and p=0.0476, respectively). Furthermore, patients with VEGF-positive tumors had a significantly worse prognosis than patients with VEGF-negative primary tumors (p=0.0044). Our findings suggest that the expression of CXCR4 and VEGF is associated with metastatic progression, and that VEGF expression is a valuable prognostic marker in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
CXCL12/CXCR4通路参与炎症、淋巴细胞归巢和再生等生物学现象，可能在肿瘤进展和远处转移尤其是器官选择性转移中起重要作用。此外，据报道CXCL12/CXCR4通路可调节肿瘤血管生成。在本研究中，我们检测了鼻咽癌中CXCR4和血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）的免疫组化表达。还通过实时逆转录-聚合酶链反应评估了CXCR4和VEGF mRNA。在76例肿瘤中，分别有41例（53.9%）和30例（39.5%）观察到CXCR4和VEGF过表达。免疫组化CXCR4与VEGF表达之间存在显著正相关（p=0.0339）。此外，免疫组化CXCR4表达与CXCR4 mRNA表达相关，免疫组化VEGF表达与VEGF mRNA表达相关（分别为p=0.0040和p=0.0476）。此外，VEGF阳性肿瘤患者的预后明显比VEGF阴性原发性肿瘤患者差（p=0.0044）。我们的研究结果表明，CXCR4和VEGF的表达与转移进展相关，并且VEGF表达是鼻咽癌中一个有价值的预后标志物。
