Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and its prognostic significance in gastric carcinoma

摘要

AIMS To investigate the clinical significance of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in gastric carcinoma. METHODS The expression of VEGF in 128 gastric carcinomas was investigated by immunohistochemical staining with a polyclonal antibody against VEGF. Correlations between the expression of VEGF and various clinicopathologic factors and prognosis were studied. RESULTS The VEGF-rich expression rate was 64.1 % in gastric carcinoma. VEGF-rich expression rate of patients with stage Ⅲ and stage Ⅳ disease was greater than that of patients with stage Ⅰ disease (P < 0.05). Significant differences of expression rate existed with respect to growth pattern, serosal invasion and lymph node metastasis. The VEGF-rich rate was much higher in tumors with expanding growth pattern (71.8%) or serosal invasion (73.5%) than in those with infiltrative growth pattern (52.0%) or non-serosal invasion (53.3%) (P < 0.025, respectively), and it was also significantly higher in patients with lymph node metastases (75.0%) than in those without such metastases (50.0%) (P < 0.05). In addition, postoperative survey of 86 patients who had been followed up for at least 5 years demonstrated that the 5-year survival rate of patients with VEGF-rich tumors was significantly lower than that of patients with VEGF-poor tumors (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS The expression of VEGF may be associated with the invasion and metastasis and may also be a useful prognostic indicator of gastric carcinoma.