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Correlation and significance of midkine and estrogen receptor beta protein expression in non-small cell lung cancer

  • Published:
Chinese Journal of Clinical Oncology

Abstract

Objective

Midkine (MK), a new member of the heparin-binding growth factor family, was found recently to have a high expression level in many carcinoma specimens, including those of the esophagus, gall bladder, pancreas, colorectum, breast and lung. Estrogen receptor beta (ER-β), a recently cloned estrogen receptor subtype, was also found to be highly expressed in lung tumor tissue, in contrast to a lower level of expression in normal lung tissue. However, few relevant studies on these proteins have been published. The aims of our study were to investigate the expression of midkine and ER-β proteins in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and to examine the relationship between their expression and the clinicopathologic data as well as to analyse the correlation of their expression in NSCLC.

Methods

By immunohistochemistry, MK and ER-β were examined in 24 surgically resected cases of NSCLC with their corresponding paraneoplastic and normal lung tissues.

Results

MK and ER-β were overexpressed in NSCLC. The levels of MK and ER-β expression in NSCLC were found to be significantly negatively correlated with the pathological classification (P = 0.042 and 0.021, respectively), and their expression decreased with a raise in the classification. Spearman’s correlation analysis showed that the correlation of their expression in NSCLC was strong (correlation coefficient [r s ] = 0.535, P = 0.007 < 0.01).

Conclusion

The expression levels of MK and ER-β to some extent reflect the malignant degree of NSCLC, and their combined detection may be of great value in early diagnosis, treatments of patients with NSCLC and can predict the prognoses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Immunology and Reproduction Biology Laboratory, Medical School & State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, Jiangsu Province, China

    Shihua Zhang, Guangfeng Zhao, Qingling Wang, Kaihua Lu & Yayi Hou

  2. The People’s Hospital of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing, 210029, Jiangsu Province, China

    Kaihua Lu

  3. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Molecular Medicine, Nanjing, 210093, Jiangsu Province, China

    Yayi Hou

Authors
  1. Shihua Zhang
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  2. Guangfeng Zhao
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  3. Qingling Wang
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  4. Kaihua Lu
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  5. Yayi Hou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yayi Hou.

Additional information

This work was supported by a grant from General Program of Jiangsu Province Hygiene Department (No.K200601).

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Zhang, S., Zhao, G., Wang, Q. et al. Correlation and significance of midkine and estrogen receptor beta protein expression in non-small cell lung cancer. Chin. J. Clin. Oncol. 5, 418–423 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11805-008-0418-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11805-008-0418-3

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