Toi M, Kondo S, Suzuki H, Yamamoto Y, Inada K, Imazawa T, Taniguchi T, Tominaga T
Department of Surgery, Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital, Bunkyo-ku, Japan.
Cancer. 1996 Mar 15;77(6):1101-6. doi: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19960315)77:6<1101::aid-cncr15>3.0.co;2-5.
Recent clinical studies have demonstrated that tumor angiogenesis is a potent prognostic indicator for breast cancer patients. The quantitation of endothelial growth factors is thought to be useful to assess angiogenic phenotype in the tumor. Among the many new endothelial growth factors, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is known to be particularly responsible for promoting the neovascularization in human breast cancer.
Intratumoral protein levels of VEGF were measured by enzymatic immunoassay in 135 primary breast cancer tissues. The VEGF levels were compared with the microvessel density evaluated by immunostaining the endothelial antigen and also were compared with intratumoral protein levels of other endothelial growth factors, including basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF).
Intratumoral VEGF concentrations varied from 3.3 pg/mg protein to 2032 pg/mg protein (average 148 pg/mg protein). An immunocytochemical analysis using anti-VEGF antibody confirmed that VEGF was located mainly in the cytoplasm of the tumor cells. The VEGF concentrations were significantly higher in vascularly rich tumors than in vascularly poor tumors. No significant association was found between VEGF concentrations and the two other endothelial growth factor concentrations.
The quantitation of intratumoral VFGF levels seems to be useful for assessing the activity of tumor angiogenesis.
近期临床研究表明，肿瘤血管生成是乳腺癌患者有力的预后指标。内皮生长因子的定量被认为有助于评估肿瘤中的血管生成表型。在众多新的内皮生长因子中，血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）被认为对促进人类乳腺癌的新生血管形成尤为重要。
采用酶免疫分析法测定135例原发性乳腺癌组织中肿瘤内VEGF的蛋白水平。将VEGF水平与通过免疫染色内皮抗原评估的微血管密度进行比较，并与包括碱性成纤维细胞生长因子（bFGF）和肝细胞生长因子（HGF）在内的其他内皮生长因子的肿瘤内蛋白水平进行比较。
肿瘤内VEGF浓度在3.3 pg/mg蛋白至2032 pg/mg蛋白之间变化（平均148 pg/mg蛋白）。使用抗VEGF抗体的免疫细胞化学分析证实，VEGF主要位于肿瘤细胞的细胞质中。血管丰富的肿瘤中VEGF浓度显著高于血管稀少的肿瘤。未发现VEGF浓度与其他两种内皮生长因子浓度之间存在显著关联。
肿瘤内VFGF水平的定量似乎有助于评估肿瘤血管生成的活性。
