title: High vascular endothelial growth factor gene expression predicts poor outcome in patients with non-luminal A breast cancer.
abstract: Breast cancer is the most frequent type of cancer among women worldwide. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), the key modulator of angiogenesis, has been implicated in breast cancer susceptibility and aggressiveness.VEGFexpression was determined in 99 breast cancer tissue samples using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status was determined by immunohistochemistry. Subsequently, the associations ofVEGF, HER2 and hormone receptor status with clinicopathological data were evaluated. HighVEGFexpression was found to be significantly correlated with the presence of lymphovascular invasion. In hormone receptor-positive/HER2-positive, HER2-positive and triple-negative breast cancer, highVEGFexpression was correlated with the presence of axillary nodal metastasis and lower overall survival rates. Therefore, the assessment of theVEGFstatus along with the hormone receptor and HER2 status may help identify high-risk patients who may benefit from anti-VEGF treatment.
authors.affiliation: Division of Head, Neck and Breast Surgery, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand.
authors.forename: Doonyapat
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sa-Nguanraksa
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand.
authors.forename: Tuenjai
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chuangsuwanich
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand.
authors.forename: Tawatchai
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pongpruttipan
authors.affiliation: Division of Head, Neck and Breast Surgery, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand.
authors.forename: Pornchai
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: O-Charoenrat
keywords: angiogenesis; breast cancer; growth factor; hormone receptor; human epidermal growth factor receptor 2; vascular endothelial growth factor