Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor C in breast invasive ductal carcinoma and the relationship with tumor invasion and metastasis

Objective To explore the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor C in breast invasive ductal carcinoma and to reveal their correlation to the major clinicopathological characteristics.Methods Expression of VEGF and VEGF-C was examined in the tissue sections from 70 cases of human breast invasive ductal carcinoma using streptoavidin-biotin-peroxidase immunohistochemistry method,and analyse their correlation to clinicopathological characteristics of breast carcinoma.Results The positive rate of VEGF and VEGF-C expression in breast invasive ductal carcinoma tissues was 70.0% and 67.0%,respectively.The expression of VEGF was related to tumor size,lymph node metastasis and TNM stage(P0.01),and it was not related to age of patients.The expression of VEGF-C was related to TNM stage(P0.05)and lymph node metastasis(P0.01),and it was not related to age of patients and tumor size.A significance correlation was found between VEGF and VEGF-C expression(r=0.405,P=0.001).Conclusion Expression of VEGF and VEGF-C were increased in breast invasive ductal carcinoma.VEGF and VEGF-C may play an important role in the invasion and metastasis of breast carcionma.