PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - KIMURA, HITOSHI
AU  - KATO, HIROYUKI
AU  - TANAKA, NARITAKA
AU  - INOSE, TAKANORI
AU  - FARIED, AHMAD
AU  - SOHDA, MAKOTO
AU  - NAKAJIMA, MASANOBU
AU  - FUKAI, YASUYUKI
AU  - MIYAZAKI, TATSUYA
AU  - MASUDA, NORIHIRO
AU  - MANDA, RYOKUHEI
AU  - FUKUCHI, MINORU
AU  - OJIMA, HITOSHI
AU  - TSUKADA, KATSUHIKO
AU  - KUWANO, HIROYUKI
TI  - Preoperative Serum Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-C (VEGF-C) Levels Predict Recurrence in Patients with Esophageal Cancer
DP  - 2008 Jan 01
TA  - Anticancer Research
PG  - 165--169
VI  - 28
IP  - 1A
4099  - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/28/1A/165.short
4100  - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/28/1A/165.full
SO  - Anticancer Res2008 Jan 01; 28
AB  - 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.