Association of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Expression with Histological Stage in Gastric Carcinoma
Abstract:
Background: Gastric carcinoma (GC) is one of the most prevalent forms of human cancer worldwide and a signif icant public health concern. Histopathologic grade and stage are well-established prognostic indicators; however, additional biomarkers are needed to better predict patient outcomes and enhance targeted treatment strategies. Vas cular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a crucial role in the growth and progression of GC and can be used as a complementary tool to GC histopathological characteristics.
Objective: To determine the immunohistochemical expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in gas tric cancer (GC) in relation to tumor stage.
Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in the Department of Pathology, My mensingh Medical College, Mymensingh and BSMMU, Dhaka over the period of March 2021 to February 2023. Total 50 samples (29 resected specimen that underwent partial or total gastrectomy in the Department of Surgery, MMCH & 21 paraffin embedded gastric tissue collected from BSMMU) were studied. TNM staging was done as per AJCC and immunohistochemical staining for VEGF was performed.
Results: In this study, 11(22%) cases were in stage I, 14(28%) cases stage II and 25 (50%) cases were in stage III. Most of the stage II (71.4%) and III (80%) tumors revealed a positive Vegf expression. On the other hand, most of the cases of stage I (36.4%) showed negative/weak VEGF expression. Statistically significant (p<0.05) differences were observed between VEGF expression and tumor stages.
Conclusion: The study was carried out to evaluate the expression of VEGF in gastric carcinoma. It was observed that Vegf expression was significantly associated with histological stage
