Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in primary non-small cell lung carcinoma

Objective: Tumor growth depends on angiogenesis. The aim of this paper is to clarify the relationship between the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)/vascular permeability factor (VPF) and the angiogenesis, or growth, or invasion and prognostic value in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). Methods: Microvessel quantification and expression of VEGF was performed immunohistochemically, using multiclonal antibodies against endothelial protein factor VIII-related antigen (F–VIII antigen, or factor VIII) for evaluating the angiogenesis; against VEGF antigen for the expression of VEGF. Results: A total of 53 patients with NSCLC after the radical resection were evaluated. The patients with high and low expression of VEGF were 33 and 20, respectively. A significant higher microvessel density (MVD) was observed in the tumors with high expression of VEGF compared with the tumors with low expression of it (12.17±2.57/mm² vs 6.01±1.161/mm², rank sum test, P<0.01). There were 29 patients with lymphonodes metastasis in the high expression VEGF/VPF (29/33, 87.88%) group, and 9 patients in the low (9/20, 45%) group. There was good correlation between MVD and expression of VEGF (chisquare tests, P<0.001). The overall 5 years survival for 53 patients was 20.75±5.78%; that of the high expression of the VEGF group was 3.03±2.98%; that of the low group was 36.36±13.94%, by Log rank test, P=0.0001. The difference between them had a high significance. There was good correlation between the survival and the expression of VEGF. By the COX’s proportional hazard model analysis, the expression of VEGF and MVD was considered to be an independent marker of the prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer. Conclusion: the expression of VEGF has a significant correlation with MVD, growth, invasion, and lymph node metastasis. The increasing of the node metastasis and the size of tumor accompanied the increasing of VEGF/VPF. The cancer patient with higher VEGF and MVD expression might have worse prognosis. By multivariate analysis, VEGF/VPF or MVD may be taken as the independent predictors of prognosis for NSCLC.