Relationship between expression of carcinoembryonic antigen mRNA in peripheral blood and microvessel density of tumor in non-small cell lung cancer

Objective: To investigate the relationship between microvessel density(MVD) of the tumor and carcinoembryonic antigen(CEA) mRNA expression of peripheral blood(PB) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC).Methods: Nested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(nested RT-PCR) and micro-fluid chip were used to detect CEA mRNA from PB;Elivision^TM plus immunohistochemical technique was used to investigate the expression of CD31 and CD34.Results: In the 57 cases of NSCLC,the positive rate of CEA mRNA was 61.4% and the MVDs shown by CD31 and CD34 were 29.7±12.1 and 38.2±12.7 respectively,within a range of 10-61 and 19-76.The expression of CEA mRNA was positively related to MVD(P<0.05).Conclusions: For patients with NSCLC,high MVD may increase the chances of micrometastasis.