Sun Haiying, Tang Fangxu, Zhou Shasha, Li Xiong, Wang Shaoshuai, Huang Kecheng, Jia Yao, Tian Xun, Ma Ding, Li Shuang
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics, Central Hospital of Wuhan, Wuhan, China.
J Obstet Gynaecol Res. 2016 Oct;42(10):1310-1316. doi: 10.1111/jog.13064. Epub 2016 Jun 23.
The expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) by cancer cells has been identified as a factor that is associated with lymph node metastasis (LNM) in some cancers, but an accurate description of the relation between VEGF and LNM in cervical cancer is lacking. We conducted a concurrent meta-analysis to investigate this issue.
We searched PubMed and EMBASE for articles addressing the association between VEGF and cervical cancer. We used stata 12.0 and calculated the crude odds ratios (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI). Heterogeneity between the studies included was assessed by Cochran's Q-test.
Overall, 16 relevant studies with 426 cases and 751 controls were included in our study. The results demonstrated that cervical cancer patients with VEGF-positive expression had a 2.87-fold higher risk of LNM than patients without VEGF-positive expression (95%CI = 1.85-4.44, P < 0.001). Furthermore, subgroup analysis by ethnicity revealed that VEGF-positive expression could increase the risk of LNM in cervical cancer among Asian populations (OR = 2.55, 95%CI = 1.61-4.03, P < 0.001) and Caucasian populations (OR = 8.81, 95%CI = 2.78-27.88, P < 0.001). Moreover, subgroup analysis by country revealed that VEGF-positive expression could increase the risk of LNM in cervical cancer among Chinese populations (OR = 3.38, 95%CI = 2.18-5.25, P < 0.001) but not among Korean populations (P = 0.84) or Japanese populations (P = 0.06). Subgroup analysis based on sample size proved that VEGF-positive expression was statistically associated with LNM in a large sample group.
Our study revealed that VEGF-positive expression is related with higher risk of LNM in cervical cancer.
癌细胞中血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）的表达已被确定为某些癌症中与淋巴结转移（LNM）相关的一个因素，但宫颈癌中VEGF与LNM之间关系的准确描述尚缺乏。我们进行了一项同期荟萃分析来研究这个问题。
我们在PubMed和EMBASE中检索关于VEGF与宫颈癌关联的文章。我们使用Stata 12.0并计算粗比值比（OR）及相应的95%置信区间（CI）。纳入研究间的异质性通过Cochran Q检验进行评估。
总体而言，我们的研究纳入了16项相关研究，共426例病例和751例对照。结果表明，VEGF阳性表达的宫颈癌患者发生LNM的风险比VEGF非阳性表达的患者高2.87倍（95%CI = 1.85 - 4.44，P < 0.001）。此外，按种族进行的亚组分析显示，VEGF阳性表达可增加亚洲人群（OR = 2.55，95%CI = 1.61 - 4.03，P < 0.001）和白种人群（OR = 8.81，95%CI = 2.78 - 27.88，P < 0.001）宫颈癌发生LNM的风险。而且，按国家进行的亚组分析显示，VEGF阳性表达可增加中国人群宫颈癌发生LNM的风险（OR = 3.38，95%CI = 2.18 - 5.25，P < 0.001），但在韩国人群（P = 0.84）和日本人群（P = 0.06）中并非如此。基于样本量的亚组分析证明，在大样本组中VEGF阳性表达与LNM具有统计学关联。
我们的研究表明，VEGF阳性表达与宫颈癌发生LNM的较高风险相关。
