Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Leiden University Medical Centre, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands.
World J Gastroenterol. 2011 Jan 14;17(2):219-25. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v17.i2.219.
To investigate the expression and potential prognostic role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and endoglin in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs).
Microvessel density (MVD) in GEP-NETs was evaluated using endoglin and CD31 immunohistochemistry. In addition, tissue levels of endoglin and VEGF were determined in homogenates by ELISA.
Endoglin was highly expressed on tumor endothelial cells. CD31 MVD in GEP-NETs was significantly higher compared to endoglin MVD (P < 0.01). Two- to four-fold higher tissue levels of endoglin and VEGF were seen in tumors compared to associated normal tissue. This increased endoglin tissue expression in tumors was significantly related to tumor size (P < 0.01), presence of metastases (P = 0.04), and a more advanced tumor stage (P = 0.02), whereas expression of VEGF was not.
We suggest that endoglin is a potential marker to indicate and predict metastases, which might be useful in the post-resection therapeutic approach of patients with GEP-NETs.
研究血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）和内胚层蛋白在胃肠胰神经内分泌肿瘤（GEP-NETs）中的表达及其潜在的预后作用。
使用内胚层蛋白和 CD31 免疫组织化学法评估 GEP-NETs 的微血管密度（MVD）。此外，通过 ELISA 测定匀浆中内胚层蛋白和 VEGF 的组织水平。
内胚层蛋白在肿瘤内皮细胞上高度表达。与内胚层 MVD 相比，GEP-NETs 的 CD31 MVD 显著更高（P < 0.01）。与相关正常组织相比，肿瘤组织中内胚层蛋白和 VEGF 的组织水平高 2-4 倍。肿瘤中内胚层组织表达的增加与肿瘤大小（P < 0.01）、转移的存在（P = 0.04）和更晚期的肿瘤分期（P = 0.02）显著相关，而 VEGF 的表达则没有。
我们认为内胚层蛋白是一种潜在的标志物，可以指示和预测转移，这可能对 GEP-NETs 患者的术后治疗方法有用。
