title: Vascular endothelial growth factor expression in low and high grade B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Angiogenesis is critical for the development of tumors. Although vascular endothelial growth factor is a well-known proangiogenic factor, its impact on B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is not clear. The aim of this study is to evaluate vascular endothelial growth factor expression in subtypes of B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-one patients with diagnoses of low and high grade B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were randomly selected and proper slides were immunostained with vascular endothelial growth factor antibody. The percentage of positive cells was recorded as the vascular endothelial growth factor score. A cut-off point was determined by using the median vascular endothelial growth factor score of all cases. The patients were subclassified as negative, weak or strong positive according to this cut-off point.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study cohort included 26 women and 25 men, aged 5 to 82 years. The number of low-grade patients diagnosed as grade I follicular lymphoma and small lymphocytic lymphoma were 7 and 6; while the number of high grade patients diagnosed as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and Burkitt's lymphoma were 29 and 9, respectively. Twenty-five patients (49.0%) showed strong and 10 patients (19.6%) showed weak vascular endothelial growth factor immunoreactivity, while 16 patients (31.4%) showed no staining. No statistically significant difference was found for vascular endothelial growth factor expression between subtypes of B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; as well as between low and high grade groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Further studies in large and specific series are needed to determine the role of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor related pathways in the development and progression of B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Akdeniz University, Faculty of Medicine, Antalya, Turkey. iremhicrang@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Irem Hicran
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Ozbudak
authors.forename: Bahar
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Akkaya
authors.forename: Gülten
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Karpuzoğlu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D016393:Lymphoma, B-Cell / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D011379:Prognosis; D014421:Turkey; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000032:analysis*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A