Faculty Collaboration Database

Vessel counts and vascular endothelial growth factor expression in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Eur J Cancer 1998 Feb;34(3):337-40

Date

06/26/1998

Pubmed ID

9640218

DOI

10.1016/s0959-8049(97)10068-5

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-0032007140 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   161 Citations

Abstract

Angiogenesis is essential for growth and metastasis of solid malignancies. In several tumours, tumour vessel count and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a potent angiogenic factor, have been associated with prognosis. To determine if vessel count and VEGF expression are prognostic factors in pancreatic cancer, we examined these parameters in resected tumour specimens from 22 patients who did not receive pre-operative therapy. Paraffin-embedded tumour specimens were immunohistochemically stained for factor VIII (surrogate for vessels) and VEGF. Vessel counts and VEGF expression were evaluated without knowledge of patient outcome. The median follow-up for the entire group had not been reached as of 23.1 months (range 10-69 months). The mean vessel count and VEGF expression were no different between those patients who had recurrences and those who did not. By linear regression analysis, the correlation of VEGF expression with vessel count did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.0685). Survival and time to recurrence were similar in patients with high and low vessel counts and VEGF expression of 1, 2 or 3. Tumour differentiation or lymph node positivity had no effect on either VEGF expression or vessel count. Our data suggest that, in contrast to findings in other solid malignancies, vessel count and VEGF expression are not predictors of survival or recurrence in patients with resectable adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.

Author List

Ellis LM, Takahashi Y, Fenoglio CJ, Cleary KR, Bucana CD, Evans DB

Author

Douglas B. Evans MD Chair, Professor in the Surgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adenocarcinoma
Endothelial Growth Factors
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Immunohistochemistry
Neoplasm Recurrence, Local
Neovascularization, Pathologic
Pancreatic Neoplasms
Prognosis
Survival Analysis