J Korean Cancer Assoc.  1999 Jun;31(3):483-491.

Correlation between VEGF Expression and Prognostic Factors in Breast Cancer

• Jang JE
• Choi SY
• Park CH
• Ko YH
• Kim KH
• Jeong HS
• Ahn KS
• Yang JH
• Nam SJ
• Yoon SS

Abstract

PURPOSE: Archival tissues of breast cancer patients were examined for VEGF expression to evaluate the relationship with other clinicopathologic factors and prognostic significance of VEGF in breast cancer.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Paraffin sections from 76 patients with invasive breast cancer who have been treated at Samsung Medical Center from December, 1994 to April, 1998 were examined for VEGF expression by immunohistochemical staining using anti-VEGF antibody. We analyzed relationships between VEGF expression and tumor size, tumor stage, metastasis, steroid honnone receptors, p53, disease recurrence and survival.
RESULTS
Immunostaining showed variable VEGF positivity in the malignant cells and VEGF was detected more frequently in tumors than in adjacent non-tumorous breast tissues. 74 out of 76 (97.4%) was positive for VEGF. We found that the expression of VEGF was strongly correlated with the stages of breast tumor (P=0.020), lymph node metastasis (P=0.043) and PR (P=0.016). However, we could not find statistically significant relationship between VEGF expression and tumor size, ER, p53 and distant metastasis.
CONCLUSION
VEGF may be a useful prognostic indicator in patients with breast cancer, especially correlated with tumor stage and lymph node metastasis. This result warrants further study to confirm our findings.

Keyword

VEGF; Breast cancer; Prognosis

MeSH Terms

Breast Neoplasms*
Breast*
Humans
Lymph Nodes
Neoplasm Metastasis
Paraffin
Prognosis
Recurrence
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A*
Paraffin
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A