Abstract:

Objective To investigate the levels of angiopoietin-2 （Ang-2）,vascular endothelial growth factor （VEGF） and carcinoembryonic antigen（CEA） in pleural effusion for the diagnosis of lung cancer with pleural effusion and different pathological types of lung cancer. Methods A total of 79 pleural effusion samples were collected from 43 lung cancer patients with pleural effusion（12 cases of squamous carcinoma,20 cases of adenocarcinoma and 11 cases of small-cell lung cancer） and 36 patients with benign pleural effusion. The levels of Ang-2 and VEGF were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay（ELISA）,and the level of CEA was determined by radioimmunoassay. The levels of different pathological types of lung cancer were compared. Results The levels of Ang-2,VEGF and CEA were higher in lung cancer with pleural effusion group than those in benign pleural effusion group （P<0.05）. The positive rate of CEA in adenocarcinoma group was higher than those in squamous carcinoma and small-cell lung cancer groups （P<0.05）,but the positive rates of Ang-2 and VEGF had no statistical significance （P>0.05）. Conclusions The determinations of Ang-2,VEGF and CEA play roles for the diagnosis of lung cancer with pleural effusion,and the combined determination can improve diagnosis efficiency. CEA is potential for the diagnosis of adenocarcinoma,and there is no correlation of Ang-2 and VEGF with different pathological types of lung cancer.

Key words: Angiopoietin-2, Vascular endothelial growth factor, Carcinoembryonic antigen, Pleural effusion, Lung cancer