title: Vascular endothelial growth factor and endoglin (CD-105) in gastric cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) overexpression has been associated with advanced stage and poor survival in several cancers. Additionally, CD-105 (endoglin) was proposed as a marker of neovascularization in solid malignancies. The aim of the present study was to (1) evaluate the VEGF and CD-105 expression in gastric carcinoma, (2) determine the role of VEGF gene sequence variations in VEGF expression in gastric carcinoma, and (3) correlate the results of VEGF and CD-105 expression with other standard prognostic parameters, such as size, grade, stage of the disease, metastases, and patient survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  VEGF and CD-105 expression were evaluated in 100 unrelated gastric cancer patients using immunohistochemistry. For the genotyping, DNA was isolated from the blood of the gastric cancer patients and from 100 healthy individuals. The genotyping was performed by polymerase chain-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  VEGF protein was strongly expressed in the cytoplasm of 36% of the gastric carcinoma samples tested. In all cases, high VEGF expression was accompanied with high endoglin expression. Our results revealed no statistical significant association of any VEGF gene polymorphism with the VEGF and endoglin expression. The correlation of VEGF/CD-105 expression with the clinicopathological parameters of gastric cancer showed that the high expression of VEGF/CD015 was correlated only with lymph node metastasis (P = 0.028). The Kaplan-Meier survival curves have shown a clear association of overall survival after diagnosis of gastric cancer with high VEGF, as well as high CD-105 expression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results support that VEGF and CD-105 are closely relevant to lymph node metastasis and act as two valuable indicators of prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Second Propaideutic Surgical Department, Laikon University Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Nikolaos I
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: Nikiteas
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tzanakis
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Theodoropoulos
authors.forename: Vassilios
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Atsaves
authors.forename: Zoi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Christoni
authors.forename: Petros
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Karakitsos
authors.forename: Andreas C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Lazaris
authors.forename: Antonis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Papachristodoulou
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Klonaris
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gazouli
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D000071063:Endoglin; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D016019:Survival Analysis; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C064206:ENG protein, human; D000071063:Endoglin; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A