RESUMEN
PURPOSE: To investigate the clinical significance of CX3 chemokine ligand 1(CX3CL1) and CX3CR1 in patients with bone metastasis from lung cancer. The expression levels of CX3CL1 and CX3CR1 mRNA and protein in primary lung cancer and lung cancer bone metastasis were detected by qRT-PCR and Western blot. METHODS: One hundred patients with lung cancer were divided into a boneless metastasis group (50 patients with bone metastasis) and a bone metastasis group (50 patients without distant metastasis). The bone transfer component was graded by Soloway classification (0 to III). The expression levels of serum CX3CL1-CX3CR1 axis were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RT-qPCR and Western Blot were used to verify the transfection efficiency. The scratching assay was used to detect the migration of CX3CL1 to 95-D cells after down-regulating the expression of CX3CR1. RESULTS: The expression levels of CX3CL1 and CX3CR1 mRNA and protein in the primary lung cancer and lung cancer bone metastasis were significantly higher than those in the adjacent tissues (P < 0.0001). The levels of serum CX3CL1 and CX3CR1 in bone metastasis group were significantly higher than those in boneless metastasis group and healthy control group (P < 0.05). In the bone metastasis group, the levels of serum CX3CL1 and CX3CR1 were significantly positively correlated with the degree of disease progression (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The expression level of serum CX3CL1-CX3CR1 axis is expected to be an auxiliary reference index for monitoring bone metastasis of lung cancer.