Expression of vascular endothelial growth factors A and C in human pancreatic cancer - PubMed (original) (raw)

Expression of vascular endothelial growth factors A and C in human pancreatic cancer

Rui-Feng Tang et al. World J Gastroenterol. 2006.

Abstract

Aim: To study the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) and VEGF-C and to determine whether the presence of VEGF-A and VEGF-C was associated with the clinicopathologic characteristics of pancreatic cancer.

Methods: VEGF-A and VEGF-C mRNA transcripts were examined by Northern blot in 6 human pancreatic cancer cell lines and 8 normal pancreatic tissues and 8 pancreatic carcinoma specimens. The expression of VEGF-A and VEGF-C proteins was examined by Western blot in the tested cell lines and by immunohistochemical stain in 50 pancreatic carcinoma samples.

Results: VEGF-A and VEGF-C mRNA transcripts were present in all the 6 human pancreatic cancer cell lines. Immunoblotting revealed the presence of VEGF-A and VEGF-C proteins in all the cell lines. Northern blot analysis of total RNA revealed 3.0-fold and 3.6-fold increase in VEGF-A and VEGF-C mRNA transcript in the cancer samples, respectively. Immunohistochemical analysis confirmed the expression of VEGF-A and VEGF-C in cancer cells within the tumor mass. Immunohistochemical analysis of 50 pancreatic cancer tissue samples revealed the presence of VEGF-A and VEGF-C immunoreactivity in 50% and 80% of the cancer tissue samples, respectively. The presence of VEGF-A in these cells was associated with larger tumor size and enhanced local spread (c2 = 6.690, P = 0.035<0.05) but was not associated with decreased patient survival. However, the presence of VEGF-C in the cancer cells was associated with increased lymph node metastasis (c2 = 5.710, P = 0.017 < 0.05), but was not associated with decreased patient survival. There was no correlation between the expression of VEGF-A and VEGF-C in the same cancer cells.

Conclusion: VEGF-A and VEGF-C are commonly overexpressed in human pancreatic cancer and may contribute to tumor growth and lymph node metastasis. There is no relationship between the expression of VEGF-A and VEGF-C in pancreatic cancer.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Expression of VEGF-A (A) and VEGF-C (B) in six human pancreatic cancer cell lines. Lane 1: COLO-357; lane 2: MIA-PaCa-2; leane 3: PANC-1; lane 4: T3M4; lane 5: ASPC-1; lane 6: CAPAN-1.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Northern blot analysis of VEGF-A and VEGF-C expression in human pancreatic tissues.

Figure 3

Figure 3

Immunohistochemical analysis of VEGF-A (A) and VEGF-C (B) expression in human pancreatic cancer tissues. In the pancreatic cancers, moderate to strong VEGF-A and VEGF-C immunoreactivity was present in the cytoplasm of cancer cells, ×400.

Figure 4

Figure 4

Survival curve. A: Cumulative survival (Kaplan-Meier) plot of the postoperative survival period of patients whose pancreatic tumors exhibited cytoplasmic VEGF-A immunostaining (solid line) versus those whose tumors were negative for VEGF-A (broken line), (P = 0.184); B: Cumulative survival (Kaplan-Meier) plot of the postoperative survival period of patients whose pancreatic tumors exhibited cytoplasmic VEGF-C immunostaining (solid line) versus those whose tumors were negative for VEGF-C (broken line), (P = 0.159).

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