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Objective: Carcinoma of the lung is one of the most frequent and mortal cancers on earth. Transforming growth factor-p.| (TGF-^) is a multifunctional polypeptide which regulates immunofunctions, angiogenesis, adhesion, extracellular matrix collection, cell development and differentiation. The purpose of this study was to determine the expression of TGF-p1 and also of fibronectin and collagen type IV and the differences in expression between histopathologic subtypes. Design: Retrospective histopathologic study.
Material and Methods: In this study we used resection materials of 54 non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC) [40 squamous cell carcinoma (SCO), 14 adenocarcinoma (AC)]. Sections were taken from paraffin-embedded blocks and immunohistochemically stained with TGF-fJp fibronectin and collagen type IV. Cytoplasmic staining density and percentage of stained areas were evaluated semiquantitatively. SPSS 10 program was used for statistical analysis.
Results: In our study, 40 (74%) of 54 cases were SCC and 14 (26%) were AC. Statistically significant differences in TGF-Ş1 and collagen type IV staining percentages between SCC and AC were found (p=0.032, p=0.002). Correlation between staining percentage area and density was found for each of the three markers separately (p=0.000).
Conclusion: When these three markers were evaluated inside themselves, no correlation was found between staining percentage and density. A significant relation between histological grade and staining percentage was determined only in TGF-p1 (p=0.001). TGF-p1 staining percentage was 40% in Grade 1, 30% in Grade 2, and 7.4% in Grade 3.