BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVERadiation sensitivity is closely related to tissue oxygen, and rh-endostatin can induce the high level of oxygen content in tumor by "normalizing" tumor angiogenesis which is associated with radiotherapy sensitivity. The aim of this study is to observe the effect of combination of radiotherapy with rh-endostatin in the rats with lung cancer.

METHODSImmediate lewis cancerous ascetic injection method was used to make rats tumors bearing model, then the rats was divided into four groups randomly: group A was treated with saline; group B was treated with rh-endostatin; group C was treated with irradiation and group D was treated with rh-endostatin and irradiation. After all rats were treated, inhibition rates and the tumor growth curve were calculated. Immunohistochemisty was adopted to check the expressions of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and microvessel density (MVD).

RESULTSCompared with group A, the growth rates of the tumors in the other group were obviously slower, and the tumor weights were significantly different form group A (P < 0.05). Compared with the other groups, the tumor weights of group D were obviously reduced (P < 0.05). Compared with group A, VEGF and MVD of other three groups were reduced (P < 0.05), and group D were significantly cut down.

CONCLUSIONCombination with radiotherapy and rh-endostatin could inhibit the lung cancer significantly in rats. The possible mechanisms are to decrease the expression ofVEGF and inhibit the production of angiogenesis.