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

AIM: The aim was 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 an anti-VEGF polyclonal antibody. Correlations between VEGF expression and various clinicopathological factors and prognosis were studied.

RESULTS: The overall VEGF-rich expression rate was 64.1% in gastric carcinoma tissue, and was significantly higher in patients with stage III and IV disease than in those with stage I disease (P < 0.05). Significant differences in expression rate were related to growth pattern, serosal invasion, and lymph node metastasis. VEGF-rich expression was much higher in tumors with an expanding growth pattern (71.8%) or serosal invasion (73.5%) than in those with an infiltrative growth pattern (52.0%) or nonserosal invasion (53.3%) (P < 0.025, respectively). Expression was also significantly higher in patients with lymph node metastases (75.0%) than in those without such metastases (50.0%, P < 0.05). A postoperative survey of 86 patients who had been followed for at least 5 years found 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).

CONCLUSION: VEGF expression may be associated with invasion and metastasis and may also be a useful indicator of gastric carcinoma prognosis.