Share

VEGF and tumor progression in
pancreatic cancer¹

High levels of VEGF expression have been found to correlate with increased growth of microvasculature, as studied using intratumoral microvessel density (IMD).¹ In a study by Itakura et al, pancreatic cancer tissues have been found to have a greater than 5-fold increase in the levels of VEGF mRNA compared with normal pancreatic tissue.²

VEGF expression and microvascular density (MVD)³

Significant correlation between VEGF expression and MVD (P<0.0001). Tumor samples derived from 142 patients with ductal pancreatic adenocarcinoma were included in the analysis. The average age of the study population (79 male and 63 female) was 63.9 years.³

Reprinted with permission from Seo Y, Baba H, Fukuda T, et al. Cancer. 2000;88:2239-2245. Figure 3.

A retrospective study by Seo et al examined tissue samples from 142 patients with ductal pancreatic adenocarcinoma who underwent resection between 1976 and 1997. VEGF immunoreactive staining was 93% positive among all samples, and VEGF expression was found in carcinoma cells as well as tumor vascular endothelial cells.³

The study found a significant association between VEGF expression and MVD (P<0.0001), by Kruskal-Wallis test, leading to the conclusion that neovascularization occurs in response to strongly VEGF-positive tumors.³

With increasing VEGF comes growth of capillaries, measured by tissue density (MVD and IMD), using immunohistochemistry. These increases correlate with enhanced tumor size and poor patient survival in a number of studies.^1-3

References:

1.

Fujioka S, Yoshida K, Yanagisawa S, et al. Cancer. 2001;92:1788-1797.

2.

Itakura J, Ishiwata T, Friess H, et al. Clin Cancer Res. 1997;3:1309-1316.

3.

Seo Y, Baba H, Fukuda T, et al. Cancer. 2000;88:2239-2245.