Abstract 2357: Prognostic value of placental growth factor expression in patients with metastatic or recurrent non-small cell lung cancer.

Abstract

Abstract Background: Placental growth factor (PIGF) is a proangiogenic factor, belonging to the VEGF family. It binds to VEGF receptor 1(VEGFR-1) and stimulates the growth, migration and survival of endothelial cells. PIGF also activates and attracts macrophages that release angiogenic molecules. Increased expression of PIGF has correlated with poor survival of patients in several solid tumors. However, PIGF expression is not consistently elevated in all malignancies. No reports on the clinical implications of PIGF expression in metastatic or recurrent non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are currently available. We investigate the clinical significance of PIGF expression in metastatic or recurrent NSCLC. Patients and methods: A retrospective review was done for seventy four patients with metastatic or recurrent NSCLC. Immunohistochemical staining for PIGF and its receptor VEGF-R1, neurophilin-1 was performed. Results: Of 74 patients with NSCLC, 73 patients were positive for PIGF, and 72 patients were positive for neurophilin-1. For PIGF expression, significant correlations were demonstrated with female (p=0.007) and nonsquamous histology (p=0.045). Thirty five patients (47%) were classified into low PIGF expression groups, whereas 38 patients (51%) were grouped as showing high PIGF expression. Survival time for patients with high PIGF expressing NSCLC was significantly longer than that for patients displaying low PIGF expression (median survival time, 15.1 months vs. 9.0 months[log-rank, p=0.01]). However, the difference in time to progression between two groups was not statistically significant (median time to progression, 5.1 months vs. 3.9 months [log-rank, p=0.24]). Conclusions: Low expression of PIGF is associated with poor prognosis in patients with metastatic or recurrent NSCLC. Further studies on larger patients populations are warranted to validate the utility of PIGF as a prognostic biomarker in lung cancer. Citation Format: Jung Hoon Kim, Tae Jung Kim, Kyu Sang Lee, Yun Hwa Jung, In Sook Woo, Sook Hee Hong, Chi Wha Han, Jae Kil Park, Jae Ho Byun. Prognostic value of placental growth factor expression in patients with metastatic or recurrent non-small cell lung cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2357. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-2357