Potential Prognostic Value of Circulating Levels of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-A in Patients with Gastric Cancer

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential prognostic value of the circulating levels of vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) in patients with gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: An ELISA was used to quantify the serum and plasma levels of VEGF-A in 135 patients with gastric cancer and 48 controls with benign gastric diseases diagnosed by gastroendoscopy and histology of the biopsied specimens. Serum VEGF-A levels were assayed in controls (n=10) and patients with gastric cancer (n=10) prior to surgery. Further samples from 16 patients with gastric cancer, 3 weeks after tumour excision, were collected. Results: VEGF-A levels were significantly higher in both serum and plasma from patients with gastric cancer than those from the controls (serum: 342.1 pg/ml vs. 80.0 pg/ml, p<0.01; plasma: 74.1 pg/ml vs. 23.7 pg/ml, p<0.01). In both cancer patients prior to surgery and controls, serum VEGF-A levels appeared to be unchanged over a 7-day period. However, examination of paired samples from 16 cancer patients collected prior to surgery and 3 weeks post-surgery showed that tumor excision resulted in a significant decrease in VEGF-A levels (Paired t-test, t=5.4, p<0.0001). Conclusion: Serum and plasma VEGF-A levels were significantly higher in patients with gastric cancer than in the controls. Serum VEGF-A levels correlated with tumour burden, as VEGF-A levels were significantly lowered following tumour excision in patients with gastric cancer.