Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor family messenger RNA in diseased thyroid tissues.
OBJECTIVE
Four different factors have recently been identified in the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)family, namely, VEGF-A, VEGF-B, VEGF-C, and VEGF-D. We investigated the expression of each VEGF gene in diseased thyroids using the multiplex reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method.


METHODS
The subjects were 61 patients (11 with Graves' disease, 41 with primary papillary carcinoma, and 9 with recurrent papillary carcinoma). A semiquantitative multiplex RT-PCR was designed to compare the RT-PCR products of each VEGF mRNA with beta-actin mRNA products to determine the relative expression.


RESULTS
VEGF-A and VEGF-B mRNA were expressed in all patients, VEGF-C mRNA was expressed in 58 (95.1%), and VEGF-D mRNA was expressed in 28 (46.0%). The expression of VEGF-D mRNA was significantly lower than that of the other VEGF mRNAs. The patients with papillary carcinoma and nodal involvement had significantly higher expression of the VEGF-C mRNA than those without nodal involvement. The expression of VEGF-C mRNA did not directly represent nodal involvement; however, the number of metastatic lymph nodes was positively correlated with the expression of VEGF-C mRNA in the primary tumor.


CONCLUSIONS
To our knowledge, this is the first clinical study on VEGF-B, VEGF-C, and VEGF-D mRNA expression in diseased thyroids. Although VEGF-C mRNA expression was required for nodal involvement, we assume that other factors and mechanisms are also involved.
Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Kawasaki Medical School, Kurashiki, Japan.
Katsuhiro
K
Tanaka
Junichi
J
Kurebayashi
Hiroshi
H
Sonoo
Takemi
T
Otsuki
Yutaka
Y
Yamamoto
Sumiko
S
Ohkubo
Shigeru
S
Yamamoto
Kojiro
K
Shimozuma
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000378:metabolism*; D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006111:Graves Disease / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008222:Lymphokines / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D042582:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors
D015415:Biomarkers; D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008222:Lymphokines; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D042582:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors