Expressions of angiogenic factors in pancreatic ductal carcinoma: a correlative study with clinicopathologic parameters and patient survival.
BACKGROUND
It has been reported that angiogenic factors play an important role in proliferation and metastasis in various cancers.AIMTo investigate the expression of angiogenic factors and microvessel density (MVD) in pancreatic ductal carcinoma and to examine the correlations among expression of angiogenic factors, clinicopathologic parameters, and clinical prognosis.


METHODS
Paraffin-embedded specimens from 55 patients with pancreatic ductal carcinoma were immunostained for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2), platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-ECGF), and CD34. The correlations among the expression of individual angiogenic factors and MVD, the clinicopathologic features, and the clinical prognoses were analyzed statistically.


RESULTS
Immunostaining demonstrated that 70.8% of pancreatic ductal carcinomas were positive for VEGF, 60.9% for FGF-2, and 57.2% for PD-ECGF. A significant correlation was observed between VEGF expression and MVD (p < 0.05) but not between FGF-2 or PD-ECGF and MVD. Although the expression of each angiogenic factor had no correlation with clinicopathologic features, the patients with tumors that showed high expression of VEGF and FGF-2 had significantly shorter survival times than those with low or no such expression (p < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
These observations suggest that the expression of VEGF closely correlates with MVD and with a poor prognosis in pancreatic ductal carcinoma.
Kuwahara
Kenichi
K
Department of Medicine and Molecular Science, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan. tamito@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Sasaki
Tamito
T
Kuwada
Yukio
Y
Murakami
Masateru
M
Yamasaki
Souichirou
S
Chayama
Kazuaki
K
D043925:Angiogenesis Inducing Agents / Q000032:analysis*; D018952:Antigens, CD34 / Q000032:analysis; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D021441:Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / Q000098:blood supply / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013939:Thymidine Phosphorylase / Q000032:analysis; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000032:analysis
D043925:Angiogenesis Inducing Agents; D018952:Antigens, CD34; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2; D013939:Thymidine Phosphorylase