title: Vascular endothelial growth factor levels do not predict efficacy of systemic adjuvant treatment as assessed in 1127 breast cancer patients.
abstract: The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a mediator of angiogenesis and has proven to be of prognostic value in patients with primary breast cancer. In this study we investigated whether VEGF is of predictive value with regard to the efficacy of adjuvant systemic therapy in primary invasive breast cancer. In 1127 tumors of patients with invasive breast cancer the cytosolic levels of VEGF were measured using a quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. These patients were followed for a median follow-up time of 59 months (range 2-268 months) after primary surgery. Correlations with well-known prognostic factors, and univariate and multivariate survival analyses were performed. The VEGF levels showed a positive correlation with age, menopausal status and tumor size. In addition, VEGF levels were inversely correlated with estrogen and progesterone receptor levels. A high VEGF level predicted an early relapse in the univariate relapse-free survival (RFS) analysis for all patients (P=0.010), but not in the multivariate analysis. Furthermore, there were no statistically significant interactions between the levels of VEGF and the use of adjuvant endocrine therapy or chemotherapy in the RFS analysis. We conclude that tumor levels of VEGF do not predict the efficacy of adjuvant endocrine therapy or chemotherapy in patients with primary breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Endocrinology - 530, University Medical Centre Nijmegen, NL-6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands. p.manders@ace.umcn.nl
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Manders
authors.forename: L V A M
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Beex
authors.forename: V C G
authors.initials: VC
authors.lastname: Tjan-Heijnen
authors.forename: P N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Span
authors.forename: C G J
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Sweep
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D004967:Estrogens / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011374:Progesterone / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D011379:Prognosis; D014020:Tissue Extracts / Q000737:chemistry; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004967:Estrogens; D014020:Tissue Extracts; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D011374:Progesterone