RT-PCR method to quantify vascular endothelial growth factor expression

The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is implicated in the progress ion of cancers. Its expression is well correlated with tumor growth and met astases. The availability of a rapid and sensitive method to detect the amo unts of VEGF mRNA in biological samples of limited size, very small biopsie s, ol samples containing relatively few cells could provide an interesting prognostic tool for clinicians. We have developed an RT-PCR method that all ows us to detect the VEGF mRNA from as little as 3 mug total mRNA. We have also shown that this protocol can be generalized to all cell lines tested. This method constitutes a very potent tool for the analysis of VEGF mRNA ex pression in different contexts.