Clinical and Histopathological Parameters Correlate with Microvessel Density but Not with Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Expression in Ovarian Cancer

Abstract

Ovarian cancer malignancies have the worst prognosis among all gynecological malignancies. As angiogenesis represents a key step for tumor progression, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is one of the most discussed pro-angiogenic factors. VEGF expression was investigated in 62 cases of ovarian carcinomas. Microvessel density (MVD) was evaluated by correlating the results with clinical and histopathological parameters. Because of the controversial results reported in other studies, VEGF was assessed together with MVD. Our results suggest a more complex angiogenic mechanism in ovarian cancer based on the discrepancies between VEGF expression, microvessel density and their correlation with clinical parameters. The conflicting data arising from this study supports the implications of different growth factors, others than VEGF in ovarian cancer. This hypothesis is sustained by the lack of correlation between VEGF and clinical parameters, and by the significant correlation between microvessel density and clinicopathological parameters. Thus, further studies are needed for a complete evaluation of angiogenesis in ovarian cancer.