title: Placenta growth factor is over-expressed and has prognostic value in human breast cancer.
abstract: Placenta growth factor (PlGF) belongs to the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family, a group of angiogenic factors that are crucial for tumour angiogenesis. Very little is known about the significance of PlGF in human cancer. We hypothesise that PlGF may have a potent influence in breast cancer. This study examined PlGF levels in human breast cancer in relation to patient's clinical parameters. PlGF expression and distribution was examined quantitatively using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR) on a cohort of human breast cancer tissue (n = 119) and background breast tissue (n = 33), qualitatively using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on a range of cell lines, and immunohistochemically on patient samples. All these techniques revealed that PlGF expression was dramatically increased (P = 0.028) in breast cancer tissues compared with normal breast tissue. We demonstrate that PlGF displays prognostic value through analysis of patient survival status (6-year follow-up), as elevated levels of PlGF were significantly associated (P = 0.017) with recurrence, metastasis and patient mortality. Our study has shown that PlGF is over-expressed in breast cancer tissues and correlates with patient prognosis, and is likely to play a major role in the pathogenesis of tumours.
authors.affiliation: Metastasis and Angiogenesis Research Group, Department of Surgery, Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff University, Heath Park, Cardiff CF14 4XN, UK. parrc@cf.ac.uk
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Parr
authors.forename: Gareth
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Watkins
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boulton
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Wen G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D000072483:Placenta Growth Factor; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D011379:Prognosis; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: C000608036:PGF protein, human; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm; D000072483:Placenta Growth Factor