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- Title
Vascular endothelial growth factor C mRNA expression is a prognostic factor in epithelial ovarian cancer as detected by kinetic RT-PCR in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue.
- Authors
Bruno Sinn; Silvia Darb-Esfahani; Ralph Wirtz; Areeg Faggad; Wilko Weichert; Ann-Christin Buckendahl; Aurelia Noske; Berit Müller; Jan Budczies; Jalid Sehouli; Elena Braicu; Manfred Dietel; Carsten Denkert
- Abstract
Abstract Vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) is a well described chemotactic and growth factor for lymphatic endothelial cells. Its inhibition leads to suppression of lymphatic and distant metastases in mouse models. In ovarian cancer, the relationship between VEGF-C expression and tumor behavior has not yet been determined by a quantitative method in vivo. Therefore, we used a new technique of RNA extraction from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue samples and determined the expression levels of VEGF-C mRNA in a study group of 97 ovarian cancer patients. Expression levels were correlated with clinicopathological features and patient survival. High VEGF-C expression was associated with worse overall (p = 0.0393) and progression-free (p = 0.0155) patient survival. In the subgroups of serous tumors and high-grade tumors, VEGF-C mRNA was still a negative indicator for patient survival (p = 0.0190 and 0.0311, respectively). A trend was observed among patients with high clinical stage (p = 0.0634). In multivariate survival analysis VEGF-C mRNA retained its prognostic influence on progression-free survival (p = 0.006, HR = 0.319 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.142–0.720). High VEGF-C expression was further associated with an increased residual tumor mass after primary cytoreductive surgery. We found no correlation of VEGF-C expression with tumor grade, FIGO stage, lymph node, or distant metastases. Our study demonstrates that high VEGF-C expression is associated with aggressive tumor behavior in ovarian cancer. mRNA extracted from paraffin-embedded tumor samples is suitable for VEGF-C gene expression studies.
- Subjects
VASCULAR endothelial growth factors; MESSENGER RNA; OVARIAN cancer; GENE expression; CANCER prognosis; DIAGNOSTIC use of polymerase chain reaction; TISSUE analysis
- Publication
Virchows Archiv: European Journal of Pathology, 2009, Vol 455, Issue 6, p461
- ISSN
0945-6317
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s00428-009-0851-6