TISSUE-FACTOR EXPRESSION IN HUMAN NON-SMALL-CELL LUNG-CARCINOMA MEASURED BY IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY - CORRELATION BETWEEN TISSUE FACTOR AND ANGIOGENESIS

Tissue factor (TF) is the physiological initiator of blood coagulation . It has been suggested that TF also regulates tumor growth and angiog enesis. We therefore used immunohistochemistry to analyze the expressi on of TF and angiogenesis in non-small-cell lung carcinomas of 191 pat ients. A significant association was found between TF expression and m icrovessel density (MVD): TF-negative carcinomas more frequently exhib ited low MVD. Additionally, a significant relationship between TF expr ession and the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was discovered. TF was also compared with the resistance of the carci nomas to doxorubicin, as measured in vitro: TF-negative tumors were mo re frequently resistant to doxorubicin than were TF-positive tumors, K aplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that survival times were longer in patients with TF-negative tumors than in patients with TF-positive tumors, These data suggest that TF functions as an additional angioge nic factor that could be used as a new prognostic and predictive facto r for non-small-cell lung carcinomas. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.