Relationship of serum vascular endothelial growth factor-C level with recurrence and prognosis in patients with esophageal cancer / 中国医师进修杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective The aim of this study is to assess the value of serum vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) for predicting recurrence and prognosis in patients with esophageal cancer.Methods A total of 65 patients with esophageal cancer,40 healthy controls were recruited in this study.Serum levels of VEGF-C were measured by ELISA methods.Results Serum level of VEGF-C in esophageal cancer group was higher significantly than those in controls [7.2 (1.2 ～ 35.5) μ g/L vs.4.2 (0.2 ～ 12.6)μ g/L,P ＜ 0.01].Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of serum VEGF-C for predicting recurrence was 0.781 (P＜ 0.01); sensitivity and specificity were 73.1％ and 61.5％,respectively.The survival rate in patients with high VEGF-C level was lower than those with low VEGF-C level (P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions VEGF-C may be closely associated with the development and metastasis of esophageal cancer.Serum VEGF-C is a useful marker for predicting recurrence and prognosis in esophageal cancer.