Vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) expression in pT2 gastric cancer.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine whether the vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) protein expression was related to the clinicopathologic features of patients with pT2 (primary tumor invasion of muscularis propria or subserosa) gastric cancer.


METHODS
The expression of VEGF-C protein was investigated retrospectively in 102 patients with pT2 gastric cancer. Immunohistochemical staining of the paraffin sections was performed using a polyclonal antibody to VEGF-C.


RESULTS
Normal gastric mucosa was not immunoreactive with an anti-VEGF-C antibody. Among the 102 tumors examined, 27 (26.5%) showed high expression of VEGF-C protein. No staining was observed in the normal tissue surrounding the tumor. There were no significant differences in age, gender, or histological types. With regard to the clinicopathological characteristics, significant differences were observed in depth of tumor invasion (muscularis propria vs. subserosa; p<0.05), lymph node metastasis (p<0.001), and stage grouping (p<0.001). The prognosis for VEGF-C-positive patients was worse than that for VEGF-C-negative patients in terms of overall survival, and VEGF-C expression was an independent prognostic indicator (p=0.023) by multivariable analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Determination of VEGF-C expression is important in predicting nodal metastasis and poor clinical outcome in pT2 gastric cancer patients.
Tsutsumi
Soichi
S
Department of General Surgical Science (Surgery I), Gunma University, Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan. chuchumi@showa.gumma-u.ac.jp
Kuwano
Hiroyuki
H
Shimura
Tatsuo
T
Morinaga
Nobuhiro
N
Mochiki
Erito
E
Asao
Takayuki
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D042582:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C / Q000378:metabolism*
D042582:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C