Elevated serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor are associated with tumor-associated macrophages in primary breast cancer.

We analyzed serum and tumor samples from 133 patients with operable primary breast cancer to determine the possible relationship between presurgery and postsurgery circulating serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels and tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) numbers, tumor VEGF expression, and other immunohistochemical parameters. A significant positive correlation was observed between the number of TAM and postsurgery circulating VEGF values (P < .05). Moreover, patients with a p53+ tumor had higher postsurgery serum VEGF levels than those with a p53- tumor (P < .05), and tumor p53 overexpression correlated significantly with TAM number (P = .007). We observed no significant association between serum values and tumor VEGF expression. Although the macrophage index was higher in VEGF+ than in VEGF- tumors, the differences were not statistically significant. Our data show a positive interrelation between high circulating VEGF levels, the number of TAM, and p53 overexpression, a relationship that might have an important role in the enhanced angiogenesis processes in breast cancer.