Clinicopathological correlation of serum vascular endothelial growth factor and tissue carbonic anhydrase factor IX in stage IA to IIA carcinoma cervix.

Abstract

e18012 Background: VEGF initiates endothelial cell proliferation and angiogenesis in tumour cells while CA IX has an important role in pH regulation and elimination of hypoxia generated acid load during glycolysis.The present study was designed to identify these biomarkers and their correlation with tissue spread and behavior and eventually could lead to development of novel target therapies. The objective of this study was to correlate serum VEGF levels and tissue CA IX expression with clinicopathological features of carcinoma cervix stage IA to IIA. Methods: This exploratory case-control study included 19 cases with carcinoma cervix FIGO 2009 stage IA to IIA and 19 age matched controls. Out of the 19 cases, 12 underwent surgery and 7 received chemoradiation. Pre-therapy blood samples were collected for serum VEGF estimation from both cases and controls. For CA IX expression estimation, cervical tissue was taken for analysis. For cases, post-operative / post chemoradiation blood samples were taken for VEGF level estimation after 6 weeks. Results: The difference in mean serum VEGF levels between cases 1235.84 pg/ml (SD± 433.67) and controls 153.74 pg/ml (SD± 108.11) was statistically significant (p = 0.001). Mean serum VEGF level between pre and post-operative cases was 1108 pg/ml (SD± 407.62) and 391.42 pg/ml (SD± 270.71) while in pre and post chemoradiation cases it was 1455 pg/ml (SD± 413.38) and 623 pg/ml (SD± 238.41). This decrease was statistically significant (p = 0.00 & p = 0.018). VEGF positively correlated with histopathologic type (p = 0.016), grade (p = 0.012), and lymphovascular space invasion (p = 0.042).CA IX expression was seen in all cases while in controls no expression was seen. CA IX expression had a positive association with lymphnode metastasis (p = 0.041). Conclusions: Elevated pre-therapeutic serum VEGF suggests spread of tumor and can be used as a prognostic marker for cancer cervix. CA IX immunostaining in cervical biopsy samples can be used as a surrogate marker for tumor aggressiveness and distant spread.