Clinical Significance Of Serum VEGF Level And VEGFmRNA Expression In Lung Cancer

Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlation between the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) and the clinicopathologic characteristics, tumor angiogenesis and outcome of patients with lung cancer.Metheds 50 surgical samples of lung cancer(23 squamous cell carcinomas, 15 adenocarcinomas and 12 small cell lung carcinomas ) and 13 samples of benign pulmonary diseases were studied. Total VEGFmRNA was examined using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR), while microvessel density in tumors were assessed immuno -histochemically. Meanwhile serum VEGF level of these patients were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).Results Tumoral VEGFmRNA expressed more frequently in lung cancer tissues(26 of 50, 52%) than in normal lung tissues(2 of 13,15.4%,P<0.02). It also expressed more frequently in the cases with lymph node metastasis(24 of 41,58.5%) than in those without lymph node metastasis(2 of 9,22.2%,P<0.05). Tumoral microvessel density, while was associated with high tumor VEGFmRNA expression, correlated with tumor stage. S-VEGF was significantly higher in the patients with lung cancer (241.16 ?27.89pg/ml) than that of controls (139. 06 + 84. 39pg/ml). Theserum VEGF level gradually increased with clinical stages and tumor progression.Conclusion VEGF is an important angiogenic factor in lung cancer and VEGF expression is significantly associated with clinical stages and progression.