Concurrent expression of angiogenic growth factors and neovascularization during tumourigenesis in colorectal carcinoma patients

Details of concurrent expression of angiogenic growth factors (AGFs) and mi crovessel density (MVD) in human colorectal adenomas and carcinomas remain obscure. Eighty lesions, 20 each from colorectal adenoma, Tis, T1 and T2 ca ncers were evaluated immunohistochemically for basic fibroblast growth fact or (bFGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), thymidine phosphoryla se (dThdPase) and MVD. MVD (p = 0.0001) and bFGF expression (p = 0.0001) in creased in the order of adenoma, Tis, T1 and T2 cancers. VEGF expression wa s same in adenomas and cancers while dThdPase was weak in adenomas but stro ngly expressed in invasive carcinomas (> T1). MVD had positive correlation with tumour size in small (less than or equal to 4 cm) colorectal cancers, Concurrent expression of AGFs was noticed in invasive carcinomas. bFGF seem s to be the strongest among the three AGFs expressed during colorectal carc inogenesis and had a significant correlation with tumour MVD. Concurrent ex pression of multiple AGFs is a crucial step in the transition from non-inva sive to invasive carcinoma.