VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL GROWTH-FACTOR EXPRESSION IN NON-SMALL-CELL LUNG-CANCER - PROGNOSTIC-SIGNIFICANCE IN SQUAMOUS-CELL CARCINOMA

Background: Recently, some studies have focused on the tumor angiogene sis and its prognostic value. We studied the expression of vascular en dothelial growth factor, microvessel counts, and serum concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor to investigate their association with clinicopathologic factors and prognosis in non-small-cell lung c ancer. Methods: The expression of vascular endothelial growth factor w as determined by an immunohistochemical analysis from 91 paraffin spec imens of completely resected nonsmall-cell lung cancers using anti-gro wth factor polyclonal antibody. Microvessel staining was performed by immunohistochemical analysis with anti-factor Vm-related antigen polyc lonal antibody. Measurement of the serum concentrations of vascular en dothelial growth factor used the sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique. Results: Expression of vascular endothelial growth fa ctor was detected in 48 of the 91 tumors. The positive ratio was signi ficantly higher in patients with adenocarcinoma than in those with squ amous cell carcinoma. The microvessel counts were significantly higher in the patients with nodal metastasis than in those without nodal met astasis. The serum concentrations of vascular endothelial growth facto r were also significantly higher in the patients with T3-4 disease tha n in those with T1-2 disease. The microvessel counts were closely asso ciated with expression of vascular endothelial growth factor. The prog nosis of patients with a positive growth factor ratio was significantl y worse than that of the patients with a negative ratio (p = 0.002), e specially in squamous cell carcinoma. According to a multivariate anal ysis, only nodal status and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor were found to be independent prognostic factors. Conclusions: T he expression of vascular endothelial growth factor was one of the mos t important prognostic factors in completely resected non-small-cell l ung cancer, especially in squamous cell carcinoma.