The Expression of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and Its Relationship with the Axillary Lymph Node Metastasis in Breast Carcinoma

Objective: To investigate the relationship of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF ) and microvascular density (MVD ) with the axillary lymph node metastasis in breast carcinoma. Method: LSAB immunohistochemical method was used to detect the VEGF expression in 65 cases with invasive ductal carcinoma after the surgical treatment. Results: The average MVD was 47. 6±22. 4 and the positive rates of VEGF was 80.00%. Both of them was correlated with the metastasis of the cancer to axillary lymph node. The positive rate of VEGF and MVD were significantly higher in those with axillary lymph node metastasis than that in patients without metastasis(P＜0.05 ). There was a close positive correlation between VEGF and MVD in invasive ductal cacinoma of breast (r= 8.213, P＜0.05 ). Conclusion VEGF is highly related with the angiogenesis of breast carcinoma. The increase of VEGF and MVD may play a role in the promotion of the axillary lymph node metastasis of breast carcinoma.