The Prognostic Role of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Expression and Angiogenesis in Curatively Resected Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Lee, Soon Nam

Abstract

PURPOSE: Angiogenesis is an essential component of tumor growth and metastasis, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is one of the important angiogenic factor. To evaluate the prognostic roles of angiogenesis and VEGF expression in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, the relationships between microvessel counts (MVC), VEGF expressions in tumor tissues, clinicopathologic features and overall survival were analysed.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Thirty-seven patients with curatively resected non-small cell lung cancer were evaluated. Tumor tissues were stained by anti-CD34 and anti-VEGF monoclonal antibody using immunohistochemical method to assess MVC and VEGF expression and analysed the relationship of MVC, VEGF, and clinicopathologic findings.
RESULTS
Mean MVC of all tumor tissues was 33.89+/-24.12 and VEGF were expressed in 26 tissues (70%). There was no correlation between VEGF expression and MVC. Mean MVC was significantly higher in patients with recurrence than in those without recurrence (50.58+/-29.33 vs 19.5+/-11.7, p=0.004). There were no correlation between VEGF expression and clinicopathologic findings and overall survival. In univariate analysis, MVC (p=0.0431), lymph node involvement (p=0.0046), histologic type (squamous vs nonsquamous) (p=0.0072) were significant prognostic factors with respect to overall survival.
CONCLUSION
In patients with non-small cell lung cancer who underwent curative resectin of tumors, VEGF expression in tumor tissue was not correlated with MVC and survival. But MVC was correlated with tumor recurrence and survival, thus MVC may be used as one of prognostic factors in non-small cell lung cancer.