BACKGROUNDIt has been proven that the newborn vessels and adhesion ability are very important characters of malignant tumor cells. Among all the invasion and metastasis factors, integrins seem to be hot spots gradually because of their special construction and function.The aim of this study is to investigate the expression of integrin β1 mRNA and integrin β3 mRNA in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the lung, as well as their correlation with microvascular density (MVD) and biological behaviour of SCC.

METHODSExpression of integrin β1 mRNA, β3 mRNA and CD34 protein was detected in 152 SCC specimens by tissue microarray, in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry.

RESULTSThe mean MVD was not significantly different between high and low integrin β1 mRNA expression groups (P=0.072), however, it was markedly different between high and low integrin β3 mRNA expression groups (P=0.041). The high expression rate of integrin β1 mRNA and β3 mRNA was closely related to lymphatic metastasis (P=0.018, P=0.011), distant metastasis (P=0.020, P=0.035) and T stage (P=0.025, P=0.015). The survival time of patients with high integrin β1 mRNA and β3 mRNA expression was significantly shorter than that of those with low expression (P=0.034, P=0.021). The survival time of patients with MVD value≥39 was significantly shorter than that of those with MVD value < 39 (P=0.024).

CONCLUSIONSThe results of this study suggest that both of integrin β1 and β3 may be involved in invasion and metastasis of SCC, and that integrin β3 expression correlates with enhanced tumor angiogenesis and integrin β1 expression may be an early event in development of SCC. They may serve as prognostic markers of SCC.