Experimental Study Of The Relationship Between Pulmonary Metastasis In Osteosarcomas And Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Expression And Microvessel Density

Objective: To discuss the relationship between lung metastasis in osteosarcomas and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression and microvessel (MV) density.Methods:We collected 30 cases of osteosarcoma specimens among which 11 cases with lung metastases and 17 cases without lung metastases(from january 2000 to january 2008) in Union Hospital of Tong ji Medical College,Hua zhong University of Science and Technology. All cases did not underwent radiotherapy and chemotherapy before surgery. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect expression of VEGF and MV density in these biank specimens ,and then calculated the average staining intensity of VEGF and MV density of cases with lung metastases and without lung metastases.Results:The positive rates of VEGF in osteosarcoma was 70 %(21/ 30) , in which the positive rate in osteosarcomas with lung metastasis was 92.31%(12/ 13),the postive rate in osteosarcomas without lung metastasis was 52.94%(9/17) , There was statistical significance ((Pi = 0.02 <0.05). The postive of VEGF signal in osteosarcomas did not significant associate with osteosarcoma's classification ( P > 0.05). there was significant positive correlation between the expression intensity of VEGF and MV density in osteosarcomas(r = 0.799 , P <0.001). There was statistical significance in the MV density between osteosarcomas with lung metastasis and osteosarcomas without lung metastasis. MV density in osteosarcomas with lung metastasis were higher than that osteosarcomas without lung metastasis.Conclusions:MV density and the expression of VEGF in osteosarcoma can be served as independent prognostic factor. VEGF may be the main factor in stimulating angiogenesis ,the expression of VEGF in osteosarcoma is correlated with MV density and the lung metastasis.A higher expression of VEGF in osteosarcoma can lead to a higher MV density and more trends to have lung metastasis. The detection of VEGF expression and MV density may be useful indicator in judging prognosis of malignant bone tumors.