Tianjin Medical Journal ›› 2026, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (7): 705-710.doi: 10.11958/20253126

• Clinical Research • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The expression of MTA1, ARL2 and VEGF-C in non-small cell lung cancer tissue

ZHANG Yiyi1(), LIU Diliang2, CHEN Fei3, GONG Yuanyuan2, WANG Guisheng1   

  1. 1 Department of Pathology, Zhangjiakou First Hospital, Zhangjiakou 075000, China
    2 Department of Radiology, Zhangjiakou First Hospital, Zhangjiakou 075000, China
    3 Department of Respiratory Medicine, Zhangjiakou First Hospital, Zhangjiakou 075000, China
  • Received:2025-12-15 Revised:2026-03-16 Published:2026-07-15 Online:2026-07-13

Abstract:

Objective To analyze the expression and clinical significance of metastasis-associated gene 1 (MTA1), ADP ribosylation factor-like protein 2 (ARL2) and vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissue. Methods From 170 patients with NSCLC admitted to Zhangjiakou First Hospital received surgical treatment were prospectively included. Cancer tissue and adjacent tissue were collected, and the pathological positive status was evaluated through Immunohistochemical staining. The patients were followed up for one year after the operation. Eight cases were lost to follow-up, and 162 cases were finally included in the study, including 44 cases of recurrence and metastasis. The positive expression of MTA1, ARL2 and VEGF-C protein in cancerous tissue, para-cancerous tissue of patients with NSCLC were compared. The differences in the expression levels of the three in cancer tissue of patients with different clinicopathological characteristics and different prognoses were analyzed. Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between the expression levels of MTA1, ARL2 and VEGF-C in cancer tissue. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was used to analyze the influencing factors of prognosis for NSCLC. Results The positive rates of MTA1, ARL2 and VEGF-C protein were higher in NSCLC tissue than those in para-cancerous tissue (P<0.05). In patients with the maximum diameter of tumor ≥3 cm, the depth of invasion ≥1 cm, the TNM classification (TNM) stage of tumor Ⅲ/Ⅳ, lymph node metastasis, low degree of differentiation and the histological type of adenocarcinoma, the positive expression rates of MTA1, ARL2 and VEGF-C were higher than those in the corresponding control groups (P<0.05). The results of multivariate Cox analysis showed that TNM stage Ⅲ/Ⅳ, lymph node metastasis, low degree of differentiation, MTA1 positive, ARL2 positive and VEGF-C positive were risk factors for the prognosis of NSCLC patients (P<0.05). The results of Spearman correlation analysis showed that the expression of MTA1 in cancer tissue was strongly positively correlated with the expression of ARL2 (rs=0.575, P<0.001), the expression of MTA1 was strongly positively correlated with the expression of VEGF-C (rs=0.443, P<0.001), and the expression of ARL2 was strongly positively correlated with the expression of VEGF-C (rs=0.351, P<0.001). Conclusion The positive expression rates of MTA1, ARL2 and VEGF-C in patients with NSCLC increase. The expressions of the three are positively correlated and closely related to the pathological characteristics of the tumor and poor prognosis.

Key words: carcinoma, non-small-cell lung, metastasis-associated gene 1, ADP ribosylation factor-like protein 2, vascular endothelial growth factor C, prognosis

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