Vasculogenic mimicry in non-small cell lung cancer and its relationship with tumor stage

Objective:The purpose of the study was to study the mechanism of vasculogenic mimicry (VM) and its relation-ship with tumor stage in non-smal celllung cancer (NSCLC). Methods:Forty-two patients with NSCLC were col ected, 19 belonged to the early stage (stages I+II) while 23 were late stage (stages III+IV). Moreover, 20 patients got surgical treat-ment and 22 got chemotherapy. We studied the relationship of VM with stage, chemotherapeutic ef ect, HIF-1α, microves-sel density (MVD) and clinicopathologic features. Results:VM in patients of early stages were significantly more than late stages (68.4%vs 26.1%, P=0.006), and the positive rate of VM was proportional to HIF-1α(P=0.034). But no correlation was found between VM and chemotherapeutic ef ect (14.3%vs 26.7%, P=1.00) or MVD (P>0.05). Furthermore, we found VM also showed a negative correlation with distant metastases and lymph nodes metastases (P<0.05) while no correlation was found with other clinicopathologic. Conclusion:VM was generated during the early stage in NSCLC and correlated with lymph nodes metastases. As the disease progressed, VM may be replaced by vascular endothelial cells, so the late-stage patients especial y people with distant metastases had fewer VM. As the main factor produced by hypoxia, HIF-1αmay make a dif erence in VM formation. Thus we inferred VM might be a new target for targeted therapy, and could provide help for clinical staging and treatment.