Expression of bFGF and its effect on tumor interstitial angiogenesis and progression in gastric carcinoma

Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and its effect on tumor interstitial angiogenesis and the biological behavior of gastric carcinoma. Methods CD34 was used to explore the microvessel density (MVD) as the marker of endothelial cell. bFGF was qualitatively and quantitatively detected with immunohistochemistry on 74 cases of gastric carcinoma and 17 cases of adjacent normal gastric tissue. Results Measurement of CD34 expression could be used to describe endothelial cell proliferation and vascularity. Strong expression of bFGF was localized in the cytoplasm of tumor cell and interstitial new microvessel endothelial cells. Expression of bFGF in tumor tissue was stronger than in corresponding non tumor normal gastric tissue ( P 0.01). The latter and gastric mucosa with intestinal metaplasia weakly expressed bFGF. MVD was significantly higher in the bFGF strong expression group than that in the bFGF weak expression group( P 0.05). In addition, there was a close relationship between the expression degree of bFGF and metastasis of the lymph node and the depth of tumor invasion. Conclusions bFGF might contribute to the angiogenesis and the tumor invasion as well as metastasis in gastric carcinoma on the way of autocrine/paracrine.