Preoperative Serum Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-C (VEGF-C) Levels Predict Recurrence in Patients with Esophageal Cancer

Abstract

Background: Circulating vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) levels were measured in patients with esophageal cancer to assess the value of VEGF-C as a biomarker for predicting tumor recurrence. Patients and Methods: Preoperative serum samples were acquired from 80 patients and healthy volunteers who served as normal controls. VEGF-C levels were assessed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: The preoperative serum VEGF-C level in patients with esophageal cancer was significantly higher than in healthy volunteers. Furthermore, patients with recurrence had significantly higher preoperative serum VEGF-C levels than patients without recurrence, and a high preoperative serum VEGF-C level was found to be an independent risk factor for recurrence, in addition to lymph node metastasis. Conclusion: Preoperative VEGF-C levels may reflect malignancy, such as lymph node metastasis, and predict recurrence in patients with esophageal cancer. Therefore, the preoperative VEGF-C level may be a useful biomarker for choice of multimodality therapy.