Eph受体家族和Ephrin-A5在NSCLCs中上调表达及其临床意义

采用荧光实时定量PCR的方法在48个非小细胞肺癌组织以及配对的正常肺组织中检测Eph/ephrin 基因的mRNA水平.发现肺癌组织中EphB4, EphB3 和 ephrin-A5的表达水平与配对的正常肺组织相比分别上调了60%,81%和65%,并具有显著的统计学差异. 而且,统计学分析发现ephrin-A5的表达水平与肿瘤分型、转移、性别、吸烟以及诊断年龄等临床病理学参数之间存在显著的相关性.此外,EphA2的表达水平与肿瘤大小、家族遗传史以及诊断年龄之间也存在显著的相关性.总之,这些结果提示EphB4, EphA2, EphB3 和ephrin-A5 在肺癌的发生和发展过程中可能以一种单独或者协同的形式发挥作用.这些蛋白有可能成为研究和诊断肺癌的重要靶向基因.

Up-regulations of EphB4, EphA2, EphB3 and Ephrin-A5 in NSCLCs and Their Clinical Significances

To better understand the biological functions of Eph/ephrin genes in human lung carcinomas, mRNA expression levels of EphA2, EphB,EphB4,ephrin-A5 and ephrin-B2 were quantified in samples from 48 non-small-cell lung carcinomas (NSCLCs) in comparison with normal lung tissues by real-time PCR assay. The up-regulations of EphB4, EphB3 and ephrin-A5 in 27 of 48(60%), 39 of 48(81%) and 31 of 48(65%) lung cancers were found respectively. The results also showed that the expression of ephrin-A5 gene is associated with tumor histology, tumor size, metastasis, gender, smoking habits and age of the patients. There is a significant correlation between EphA2 expression and tumor size, tumor age and family history. All these results suggest that EphB4, EphA2, EphB3 and ephrin-A5 might function independently or synergistically in initiation and progression of primary lung cancer, and they might serve as valuable targets for therapeutic intervention.