Immunohistochemical Study of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Gastric Carcinoma

Jang, Tae Jung; Kim, Jung Ran

Abstract

Many studies have shown that angiogenesis plays an important role in the growth, the progression, and the metastasis of a solid tumor. The vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) is thought to be a selective mitogen for endothelial cells. Twenty eight advanced gastric carcinomas and twenty early gastric carcinomas were investigated by staining with polyclonal antibody against the VEGF. Correlation between the expression of the VEGF and the clinicopathologic features of gastric carcinoma were studied. The VEGF was mainly localized to the cytoplasm of carcinoma cells. Normal gastric foveolar epithelium was not immunoreactive, but some endothelial cells were weakly immunoreactive with an anti-VEGF antibody. Expression of the VEGF was significantly higher in advanced gastric carcinoma than in early gastric carcinoma (p=0.003). Expression of the VEGF was correlated with the depth of tumor, the lymph node metastasis, and the stage (p<0.05). The VEGF positivity was significantly higher in moderately and poorly differentiated gastric carcinoma than in well differentiated gastric carcinoma. The VEGF scores of the metastatic foci in the lymph nodes were higher than that of the primary tumors, which were followed by deep and superficial portions of the primary tumors in a descending order (p<0.05). In summary, the expression of the VEGF may be associated with progression and metastasis of a gastric carcinoma and may also be a good prognostic factor in a gastric carcinoma.