title: Pretreatment serum levels of bFGF and VEGF and its clinical significance in endometrial carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In this study, we examined the frequency of serum elevation as well as the prognostic significance of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in endometrial cancer (EC) type I and a biologically aggressive variant of EC type II.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pretreatment serum levels of bFGF and VEGF were evaluated by commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for cancer patient samples with type I EC (n=70) and type II EC (n=64) and compared to a cohort of normal individuals (n=64). Values were correlated with clinicopathological characteristics and outcome.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Median pretreatment VEGF values were 470.4pg/ml (range, 164.3-598.4pg/ml) for type I EC, 608.8pg/ml (range, 354.2-783.6pg/ml) for type II of EC patients and 215.6pg/ml (range, 128.3-332.9pg/ml) for normal healthy subjects (p<0.001). Elevated serum VEGF concentration correlated significantly with advanced FIGO stage in type II EC (p=0.011). Median values of bFGF were 10.7pg/ml (range, 0.5-22.5pg/ml) for type I EC, 21.2 (range, 0.5-62.4pg/ml) for type II EC and 1.1 (range, 0-7.2pg/ml) in controls (p<0.0001). The pretreatment bFGF levels correlated with advancing tumor stages in types I and II EC (p <0.05). Multivariate analysis with Cox proportional hazard regression models revealed that high bFGF serum level correlated with shorter overall survival (OS) in type I EC (HR, 0.39, p<0.001) and in type II EC (HR, 0.47, p=0.01) and disease-free survival (DFS) (HR, 0.53, p=0.03 and HR, 0.51, p=0.02, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High preoperative bFGF levels predict a poor prognosis in patients with EC, and the prognostic value is independent of established prognostic parameters. These data suggest that bFGF might potentially serve as a marker in prognosis and offer a possibility to individualize treatment regimen.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Maternity Care, Medical University of Bialystok, Poland.
authors.forename: Bozena
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dobrzycka
authors.forename: Beata
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mackowiak-Matejczyk
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kinalski
authors.forename: Slawomir Jerzy
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Terlikowski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000097:blood*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2