Department of Pathology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, 1838 Guangzhou North Road, Guangzhou, 510515, Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
Clin Transl Oncol. 2013 Feb;15(2):132-8. doi: 10.1007/s12094-012-0897-9. Epub 2012 Jul 24.
Elevated Enhancer of Zeste Homologue 2 (EZH2) expression is involved in many human malignancies through epigenetically silencing related genes. However, the study of the EZH2 protein expression in lung cancer remains at the qualitative or semi-quantitative level. The present study is to elucidate the roles of EZH2 in the progression and metastasis of different subtypes of lung cancer at quantitative level.
Lung carcinoma tissue microarray was constructed containing 32 normal adult lung tissues, 113 lung carcinomas and 57 lymph-node metastases. EZH2 protein expression was detected by immunohistochemistry and assessed quantitatively with Leica Q500MC image analysis system. Positive unit (PU) value was used to evaluate the protein expression intensity of positive cells from systematically selected fields under the microscope.
Elevated Enhancer of Zeste Homologue 2 PU in lung carcinomas was significantly greater than that in normal lung tissues (p = 0.001). Increased EZH2 expression was correlated with histological subtypes, differentiation, TNM stage, and lymph-node metastases (p < 0.05). EZH2 PU of primary lung carcinomas was smaller than that of lymph-node metastasis (p = 0.002). EZH2 PU was not associated with patients' gender, age, smoking status, tumor location, and tumor size (p > 0.05).
Elevated Enhancer of Zeste Homologue 2 PU is increased with the development of lung cancer. EZH2 may play an important role in the progression and metastasis of lung cancer.
增强子结合锌指蛋白 2（EZH2）的表达升高通过表观遗传沉默相关基因参与许多人类恶性肿瘤。然而，肺癌中 EZH2 蛋白表达的研究仍处于定性或半定量水平。本研究旨在定量阐明 EZH2 在不同亚型肺癌的进展和转移中的作用。
构建了包含 32 个正常成人肺组织、113 个肺癌和 57 个淋巴结转移的肺癌组织微阵列。通过免疫组织化学检测 EZH2 蛋白表达，并使用 Leica Q500MC 图像分析系统进行定量评估。阳性单位（PU）值用于评估显微镜下系统选择视野中阳性细胞的蛋白表达强度。
肺癌中升高的 Enhancer of Zeste Homologue 2 PU 明显高于正常肺组织（p = 0.001）。EZH2 表达增加与组织学亚型、分化、TNM 分期和淋巴结转移相关（p < 0.05）。原发性肺癌的 EZH2 PU 小于淋巴结转移的 EZH2 PU（p = 0.002）。EZH2 PU 与患者的性别、年龄、吸烟状况、肿瘤位置和肿瘤大小无关（p > 0.05）。
EZH2 PU 随着肺癌的发展而增加。EZH2 可能在肺癌的进展和转移中发挥重要作用。
