Fujita Naoyuki, Okegawa Takatsugu, Terado Yuichi, Tambo Mitsuhiro, Higashihara Eiji, Nutahara Kikuo
Departments of Urology, Kyorin University School of Medicine, 6-20-2 Shinkawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan.
BMC Res Notes. 2014 Jun 17;7:369. doi: 10.1186/1756-0500-7-369.
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a major role in angiogenesis. One of the functions of VEGF is to regulate neovascularization in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC). The objective of our study was to examine whether before nephrectomy serum levels of VEGF or expression of VEGF using immunohistochemistry (IHC) could predict postoperative recurrence in nonmetastatic CCRCC.
Twelve patients (14.5%) had recurrence during a mean follow-up of 52.6 ± 31.2 months. The serum VEGF level was significantly higher in patients with recurrence than in those without recurrence (P = 0.038). High serum VEGF levels were above 416 pg/mL; this value was chosen based on a receiver operating characteristic analysis. The recurrence-free survival rate in patients with a high serum VEGF level was significantly lower than in those with a low serum VEGF level (P = 0.003). In total, tumors from 26 patients (31.3%) showed overexpression of VEGF using IHC. The recurrence-free survival rate in the IHC-positive group was significantly lower than that in the IHC-negative group (P = 0.044). Multivariate analysis indicated that preoperative serum VEGF levels (P = 0.013) and female gender (P = 0.004) were independent predictors of postoperative recurrence in nonmetastatic CCRCC.
Preoperative serum VEGF levels is a useful predictor compared with IHC analysis of VEGF of postoperative recurrence in nonmetastatic CCRCC.
血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）在血管生成中起主要作用。VEGF的功能之一是调节透明细胞肾细胞癌（CCRCC）中的新生血管形成。我们研究的目的是探讨在肾切除术之前，血清VEGF水平或使用免疫组织化学（IHC）检测的VEGF表达是否能够预测非转移性CCRCC的术后复发。
在平均52.6±31.2个月的随访期间，12例患者（14.5%）出现复发。复发患者的血清VEGF水平显著高于未复发患者（P = 0.038）。血清VEGF高水平高于416 pg/mL；该值是根据受试者工作特征分析选择的。血清VEGF水平高的患者无复发生存率显著低于血清VEGF水平低的患者（P = 0.003）。总共，来自26例患者（31.3%）的肿瘤使用IHC显示VEGF过表达。IHC阳性组的无复发生存率显著低于IHC阴性组（P = 0.044）。多变量分析表明，术前血清VEGF水平（P = 0.013）和女性性别（P = 0.004）是非转移性CCRCC术后复发的独立预测因素。
与对非转移性CCRCC术后复发的VEGF进行IHC分析相比，术前血清VEGF水平是一个有用的预测指标。
