High serum vascular endothelial growth factor C predicts better relapse-free survival in early clinically node-negative breast cancer.

High serum vascular endothelial growth factor C predicts better relapse-free survival in early clinically node-negative breast cancer. Oncotarget. 2018 Jun 15;9(46):28131-28140 Authors: Maañón J, Perez D, Rhode A, Callejón G, Rivas-Ruiz F, Perez-Ruiz E, Rodrigo I, Ramos B, Medina F, Villatoro R, Redondo M, Rueda A Abstract A recent meta-analysis indicated that higher tumoral expression of vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) was related to poorer relapse-free and overall survival in breast cancer patients. However, a retrospective study found that higher circulating VEGF-C levels were associated with better survival in breast cancer patients. In 2009, we initiated a prospective study to determine the utility of preoperative serum VEGF-C levels for predicting the risk of sentinel lymph node involvement in early breast cancer and to assess serum VEGF-C levels as a prognostic factor for relapse-free and overall survival. We analyzed serum samples from 174 patients with early breast cancer who underwent sentinel lymph node biopsies. VEGF-C levels were determined using an ELISA. Serum VEGF-C levels were normally distributed, with a median value of 6561.5 pg/mL, and did not correlate with any other clinical or pathological variables. During a median follow-up period of 58 months, the five-year relapse-free survival rate was higher in patients with VEGF-C levels above the median than in patients with lower levels (95.3% vs. 85.9...
Source: Oncotarget - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Oncotarget Source Type: research