Objective To detect the expressions of metastasis associated in colon cancer 1(MACC1) and c-Met proteins in patients with lung adenocarcinoma and analyze the suitability of these protein expressions to predict postoperative recurrence.

Methods  There were 102 lung adenocarcinoma patients who underwent a completely surgical excision from July 2011 to July 2013. The expression of MACC1 and c-Met proteins in lung adenocarcinoma tissues and normal lung tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry. We had the regular follow-up for all patients. The correlation between protein expressions and postoperative recurrence was analyzed.

Results  In 102 cases of lung adenocarcinoma tissues and 57 cases of normal lung tissues, the positive MACC1 protein expression rate was higher in tumor tissues than in normal lung tissues(59.80% vs. 7.01%, P<0.05). The positive c-Met protein expression rate was higher in tumor tissues than in normal tissues (54.90% vs. 10.53% , P<0.05). The gender and age were not found to be correlated with MACC1 or c-Met protein expressions, while significant association were shown between the expressions of MACC1, c-Met proteins and pathological T stage, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage(P<0.05). The MACC1 and c-Met protein expressions were positively correlated(r=0.262, P=0.008). The relapse rate within two years with MACC1 positive expression was 73.77% and higher than 31.71% with negative expression(χ²=17.686, P<0.001). There were different 2-year relapse rates between positive and negative expressions of c-Met protein(76.79% vs. 34.78%, χ²=18.272, P<0.001). Cox regression analysis showed that MACC1 expression, c-Met expression, postoperative pathological stage, T stage and lymph node metastasis were the prognostic factors of the recurrence and metastasis of lung adenocarcinoma.

Conclusion  The expression levels of MACC1 and c-Met protein are associated with T stage, lymph node metastasis and pathological stage, and are the prognostic factors of the recurrence and metastasis of lung adenocarcinoma.