下咽鳞状细胞癌组织claudin-1的表达及与微淋巴管生成的关系

目的 通过检测97例下咽鳞状细胞癌患者癌组织中claudin-1与D2-40蛋白的表达，分析claudin-1与微淋巴管密度（MLVD）之间的相互关系，探讨它们与肿瘤临床分期、病理学分级及患者临床预后之间的相关性，探索下咽鳞状细胞癌淋巴结转移的机制。方法 应用免疫组化法检测97例下咽鳞状细胞癌及90例癌旁组织标本中claudin-1与D2-40蛋白的表达，采用Pearson χ²检验分析标志物和临床病理特征之间的关系；采用Log rank实验方法进行生存分析。结果 Claudin-1在下咽鳞状细胞癌中呈高表达；claudin-1蛋白表达与肿瘤的分化程度（P=0.004）和淋巴结转移有关（P=0.026）；Kaplan-Meier分析显示claudin-1与患者的生存率相关（P=0.003）。癌巢周边区的MLVD与组织病理学分级、临床分期和淋巴结转移等指标显著相关，claudin-1与MLVD呈正相关（r=0.54，P=0.012）。结论 高表达claudin-1可能会诱导肿瘤淋巴管生成，从而促进淋巴结转移，可能成为下咽鳞状细胞癌治疗的一个新的靶点。

Relationship between expression of claudin-1 and micro-lymphatic vessel density in hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Objective To investigate the relationship between claudin-1 and micro-lymphatic vessel density (MLVD) by detecting expressions of claudin-1 and protein D2-40 in hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HSCC), and to study the mechanism of lymph node metastasis in HSCC by exploring the correlation between their expressions and clinical stage, pathological grade, and clinical prognosis of HSCC. Methods Expression levels of claudin-1 and protein D2-40 were detected by immunohistochemistry in cancer specimens from 97 patients with HSCC and 90 para-tumor specimens. The correlation between the markers and clinicopathological features was analyzed by using the Pearson chi-square test, and survival analysis by the log-rank test. Results Claudin-1 expression was high in HSCC and was related to tumor differentiation (P=0.004) and lymph node metastasis (P=0.026). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that claudin-1 expression was related to patients'' survival rate (P=0.003). There were significant relationships between MLVDs in the para-tumor tissues and the indices of histopathological grade, clinical stage, and lymph node metastasis. The claudin-1 expression was positively correlated to MLVD (r=0.54, P=0.012). Conclusion High expression of claudin-1 may induce the generation of tumor lymphatic vessels and facilitate lymphatic metastasis in HSCC, and therefore becomes a new target for the treatment of this tumor.