Astrocyte elevated gene-1 is overexpressed in non-small-cell lung cancer and associated with increased tumour angiogenesis

Abstract OBJECTIVES Astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1) functions to mediate angiogenesis, and its upregulation is responsible for tumour angiogenesis during cancer development. This study analysed AEG-1 expression in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for association with NSCLC clinicopathological features and tumour angiogenesis. METHODS The expression of AEG-1, vascular endothelial growth factor and intratumoural microvessel density (assessed using the expression of CD105) was detected by immunohistochemistry in 88 paired tumour tissue and adjacent normal tissue specimens obtained from NSCLC patients. The Kaplan–Meier curves were used for survival analysis through an online tool (http://kmplot.com/analysis/). RESULTS AEG-1 was overexpressed in 61.3% of NSCLC tissues vs 6.8% (6/88) of normal tissues (P