Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in operable gallbladder carcinomas.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the angiogenic and prognostic role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in operable gallbladder carcinomas.


METHODS
Sixty patients with early gallbladder carcinomas, treated with surgery alone, were investigated immunohistochemically for the expression of VEGF, thymidine phosphorylase (TP) and new blood vessel formation. The results were correlated with clinico-pathological features and prognosis.


RESULTS
An increased VEGF secretion in gallbladder carcinomas was significantly associated with increased angiogenesis but not with patients survival, although high angiogenesis did relate with poor prognosis. TP was also associated with angiogenesis, but only the combined VEGF/TP expression was associated with unfavourable survival. Histological grade was another independent factor of prognosis.


CONCLUSIONS
Both VEGF and TP expression are associated with high rate of angiogenesis, a factor directly associated with prognosis. The combined expression of these angiogenic factors confer a particularly poor post-operative outcome, speculature.
Giatromanolaki
A
A
Department of Pathology, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece. tart@her.forthnet.gr
Koukourakis
M I
MI
Simopoulos
C
C
Polychronidis
A
A
Sivridis
E
E
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005706:Gallbladder Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000378:metabolism*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013939:Thymidine Phosphorylase / Q000378:metabolism; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors / Q000378:metabolism*
D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors; D013939:Thymidine Phosphorylase