TUMOR ANGIOGENESIS AND EXPRESSION - OF THYMIDINE PHOSPHORYLASE PLATELET-DERIVED ENDOTHELIAL-CELL GROWTH-FACTOR IN HUMAN GASTRIC-CARCINOMA

To investigate the relationship between tumor angiogenesis and the exp ression of platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor/thymidine p hosphorylase (PD-ECGF/dThdPase) and between patients' survival and the expression of PD-ECGF/dThdPase in human gastric carcinoma tissues, we performed immunohistochemical studies with anti-PD-ECGF/dThdPase and anti-CD34 monoclonal antibodies, Out of 154 gastric carcinoma tissue s amples, 61 (40%) were evaluated as PD-ECGF/dThdPase-positive. The expr ession of PD-ECGF/dThdPase was significantly associated with the intra tumoral microvessel counts (P < 0.0001) and the incidence of hematogen ous metastasis (P < 0.05). Intratumoral vessel counts were significant ly correlated with overall survival of 154 patients (P < 0.000001). Co x proportional hazards model showed that tumor vasculature was an inde pendent and strong prognostic variable. However, the prevalence of the expression of PD-ECGF did not. associate the overall survival. We sug gest that expression of PD-ECGF/dThdPase plays a role in the promotion of angiogenesis in human gastric carcinomas, without any definite inf luence on patient's survival.