Effect of bFGF on mesenchymal angiogenesis and biological behaviors in gastric cancer

Objective: To investigate the effect of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on expression in stomach cancer tissue and on both mesenchyme angiogenesis and biological behaviors of the tumor. Methods: The study had been carried out to examine bFGF and mesenchymal microvessel density,MVD, in 74 cases of gastric carcinoma and 17 cases of corresponding non tumor normal gastric tissue by immunohistochemistry technique. Results: bFGF was strongly expressed within tumor cells and mesenchyma neo microvessels of gastric carcinoma. Expression of bFGF in tumor tissue was higher than that in corresponding normal gastric tissue close to cancer ( P 0 01). bFGF was weakly expressed in both normal gastric tissue nearby cancer and gastric mucosa with intestinal metaplasia. MVD was significantly higher in the group of bFGF strong expression than that in the group of weak expression( P 0 01).In addition, there was significant relationship between the expression of bFGF and the lymph node metastases. Conclusion: bFGF may promote the angiogenesis, the tumor invasiveness and metastases of gastric cancer.