The expression and significance of VEGF in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Objective To study the expression and significance of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) in serum and lesion tissue of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients.Methods The expression of VEGF in serum of 46 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and 10 healthy people was detected by ELISA.Immunohistochemistry method(Elivison 2-step) was used to examine VEGF expression in 46 tumor tissues.Results The serum VEGF level in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma was significantly higher than that in control group(P0.01).There was significant difference among three vertical infiltration extent in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(P0.01).Compared to patients without lymph node metastases,the serum level of VEGF increased significantly in patients with lymph node metastases.In the tissues of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma:VEGF mainly expressed in cancer cell endochylema,and was more remarkblely on the edge of the cancer nest.VEGF showed positive expression in esophageal muscular layer and partial vascular endothelial cell.However,the stain in esophageal muscular layer and partial vascular endothelial cell was lighter than that in cancer cell.The positive expression of VEGF in necrotic tumor was obvious,showing asystematic distribution.And the stain was deeper than the cancer cell endochylema.There was almost no expression of VEGF in normal tissue.Conclusion VEGF is overexpressed in pathological tissues and serum of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.The expressions of VEGF are remarkablely related to vertical infiltration and lymph node metastases,so it could be a potential criterion of judging prognosis and bolting high risk group.