Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor C is a prognostic indicator in esophageal cancer.
OBJECTIVE
Vascular endothelial growth factor plays an important role in angiogenesis and vascular endothelial growth factor-C is concerned with lymphangiogenesis.


METHODS
The present study employed immunostaining to investigate the relationship between expression of these factors and clinicopathologic findings in 100 patients with esophageal cancer.


RESULTS
Fifty-six of the 100 tumors (56%) showed expressed vascular endothelial growth factor and 43 tumors (43%) expressed of vascular endothelial growth factor-C. Expression of the latter was correlated with the depth of tumor invasion (p=0.0095), lymphatic invasion (p=0.0065), lymph node metastasis (p=0.0l34). The prognosis was significantly worse for patients with tumors positive for vascular endothelial growth factor-C than for those with negative tumors (p=0.036). In contrast, expression of vascular endothelial growth factor was not correlated with the prognosis. Microvessel density was significantly higher in tumors expressing vascular endothelial growth factor-C compared with negative tumors (p=0.0014). Stepwise multivariate analysis with Cox's proportional hazards model identified gender (p=0.0420), age (p=0.0192), vascular endothelial growth factor-C expression (p=0.0286), and lymphatic invasion (p=0.0030) as prognostic determinants.


CONCLUSIONS
Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-C is related to lymphatic invasion and is a prognostic indicator for esophageal cancer.
Okazawa
T
T
Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan.
Yoshida
T
T
Shirai
Y
Y
Shiraishi
R
R
Harada
T
T
Sakaida
I
I
Abe
T
T
Oka
M
M
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D042582:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C / Q000032:analysis*
D042582:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C