Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and proliferating cell nuclear antigen in breast tumor

Objective To explore the expression and significance of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen(PCNA) in breast tumor. Methods The expression of VEGF and PCNA in benign breast disease and breast cancer were assessed by immunohistochemistry, and their correlation with clinicopathological factors were analyzed by statistics. Results The positive rates of VEGF in benign breast disease and breast cancer were 16.7% (5/30) and 56.7% (38/67) respectively. There was no relationship between the expression of VEGF and age in breast cancer, while there was relationship between the expression of VEGF and the tumor size, lymph node metastasis, clinical stage,and the expression of c-erbB-2 ( P﹤0.05 ). The expression of VEGF closely correlated with expression of PCNA in breast cancer ( P﹤0.05 ). Conclusions The expression of VEGF is relative to ability of invasion and metastasis in breast cancer, which can evaluate prognosis of breast cancer. VEGF and PCNA may play the cooperative roles in the occurrence and progress of breast cancer.