Vascular endothelial growth factor and microvascular density in esophageal and gastric carcinomas

AIM: To observe the relationship between the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), microvascular density (MVD) and the pathological characteristics of esophageal and gastric carcinomas. METHODS: S-P immunohistochemical staining was used to investigate the expression of VEGF in all the specimens. The antibody against factor VIII-related antigen was used to display vascular endothelial cells, and MVD was examined by counting the factor VIII-positive vascular endothelial cells. RESULTS: The positive rates of VEGF expression in esophageal carcinoma and gastric carcinoma were 81.36 % and 67.5 % respectively, and the MVD averaged 41.81+/-8.44 and 34.36+/-9.67 respectively, which were higher than those in benign diseases. The expression of VEGF and MVD were closely correlated with the degree of differentiation, lymphatic metastasis, but not related to depth of cancer invasion. In early stage gastric carcinoma, the rate of expression of VEGF and MVD was lower than that in progressive gastric carcinomas. CONCLUSION: The expression of VEGF is correlated with tumor angiogenesis, and VEGF plays an important role in new blood vessels formation, the expression of VEGF and MVD play an important role in tumor growth and metastasis. MVD and the expression of VEGF may be two important indexes for patients' prognosis.