Expression of vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF-A/VEGF-1 and VEGF-C/VEGF-2) in postmenopausal uterine endometrial carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
We investigated the expression of two angiogenic vascular endothelial growth factors, VEGF-A/VEGF-1 and VEGF-C/VEGF-2, in 228 cases of uterine endometrial carcinomas from postmenopausal patients to evaluate the correlation with histopathologic features and clinical outcome.


METHODS
Immunohistochemistry was used to assess VEGF-A/VEGF-1 and VEGF-C/VEGF-2 expression in 228 primary surgically treated cases of postmenopausal endometrial carcinomas and the results were statistically analyzed in relation to vascular invasion, depth of invasion (myometrial vs serosal-parametrial invasion), lymphatic vessel invasion, lymph node metastasis, disease-free 5-year survival rate (DF5YR), and disease-free 10 year-survival rate (DF10YR).


RESULTS
The results of univariate analysis showed that VEGF-A/VEGF-1 and VEGF-C/VEGF-2 expression correlated with vascular invasion (P < 0.0001, P = 0.0006), depth of invasion (P = 0.0004, P = 0.043), lymphatic vessel invasion (P = 0.021, P < 0.0001), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.0017, P = 0.0008), DF5YR (P = 0.0081, P = 0.0002), and DF10YR (P = 0.0077, P = 0.0001). Multivariate analysis showed that lymph node metastasis (P = 0.0017, P = 0.0008), parametrial-serosal invasion (P < 0.0001, P < 0.0001), and VEGF-C/VEGF-2-positive status (P = 0.03, P = 0.01) were significant factors in DF5YR and DF10YR.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that VEGF-A/VEGF-1 and VEGF-C/VEGF-2 expression was predictive of these histopathologic features of endometrial carcinoma and clinical outcome.
Hirai
M
M
Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Chiba Cancer Center, Chiba 260-8717, Japan.
Nakagawara
A
A
Oosaki
T
T
Hayashi
Y
Y
Hirono
M
M
Yoshihara
T
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000906:Antibodies; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008208:Lymphatic System / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012307:Risk Factors; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D042582:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C
D000906:Antibodies; D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D042582:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C