Implication of vascular endothelial growth factor in the development and metastasis of human cancers.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a most potent angiogenic molecule. In this article, we demonstrated that VEGF is participated in the tumor angiogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma, esophageal cancer, and pancreatic cancer. Furthermore, we revealed that VEGF is one of the molecules which are responsible for metastasis and prognosis in esophageal cancer and colon cancer. Although the mechanism on the induction of VEGF gene is still unclear in human cancer tissue, we obtained the informative evidence indicating that p53 mutation is involved in VEGF expression of esophageal cancer. Our experimental study with stable transfectant of VEGF gene provided the confirmative results showing that VEGF gene induces neovascularization in and around tumor and that VEGF augment metastastic potential by accelerating proliferative activity after reaching the target organ.