Objective To investigate the expressions of ABCG2 and V-ATPase in NSCLC and their expression rates in pathological classification, TNM stages and pathological grades and the expression correlation between ABCG2 and V-ATPase. Methods Expressions of ABCG2 and V-ATPase were accessed with EnVinsion immunohistochemistry in tumor samples from 92 NSCLC patients. The corresponding data was analyzed statistically. Results Expressions of ABCG2 and V -ATPase were found both in the lung adenocarcinoma and lung squamous cell cancer, and the difference between these two kinds of tumors was significant (P =0.003,0.000). ABCG2 expression was significantly different among TNM stages of lung adenocarcinoma (P=0.004) as well as among pathological grades of lung adenocarcinoma (P =0.028) and squamous cell carcinoma (P =0.000), while no significant difference was found among TNM stages of squamous cell lung carcinoma. The level of V-ATPase expression was associated with TNM stages of lung adenocarcinoma (P =0.026) and pathological grades of lung squamous cell carcinoma (P =0.002), however, among TNM stages of lung squamous cell carcinoma and pathological grades of lung adenocarcinoma, the difference was not significant. Additionally, the significant correlation was found between expression of ABCG2 and V-ATPase in all samples, adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma (P<0.001). Conclusion The significant correlation is found between expression of ABCG2 and V-ATPase, which indicate that they may co-work to participate in the mechanism of anticancer drug resistance.

BACKGROUNDElevated expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) has been found to be a feature of tumors recently. In this study, the expression and significance of COX-2 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were explored in the cancer tissues of patients with lung cancer.

METHODSExpression of COX-2 and VEGF in cancer tissues of 126 lung cancer patients were detected by tissue chip and immunohistochemical methods. The relationships among COX-2 expression, survival time and the biology beha- vior of lung cancer were analyzed by retrospective cohort study.

RESULTSExpression of COX-2 was positive in 86 cases (68.25%). The correlation between COX-2 expression and some biology behaviors of lung cancer (T stage, N stage and P-TNM stage) was significant in statistics (P < 0.05). High expression of VEGF was also found in cancer tissues (98/126, 77.78%). The correlation between COX-2 expression and VEGF expression was significant in statistics (Chi-Square=6.72, P < 0.05). The survival time of patients with positive COX-2 expression and VEGF expression was significantly shorter than that without expression (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSHigh COX-2 and VEGF expressions are detected in lung cancer tissue. Each of them is suggested to be an independent predictor of survival in survival analysis. COX-2 and VEGF are significant poor prognostic factors in the surgically resected lung cancer.