Prognostic value of VEGFA and VEGFR2 in disease-free survival of patients with lung adenocarcinoma receiving surgery

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effects of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) on disease-free survival (DFS) of patients with lung adenocarcinoma receiving surgery. Methods: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed to detect the expressions of VEGFA and VEGFR2 proteins in adenocarcinoma tissues from 114 patients after surgery. The information on clinical characteristics including gender, age, smoking status, tumor size, number of positive lymph nodes (PLNs), clinical stage and treatment after surgery was collected, and the associations of VEGFA and VEGFR2 expressions with the clinical characteristics were analyzed. The COX proportional hazards regression model was used to identify the independent prognostic factors for DFS. Results: The IHC result showed that the positive rates of VEGFA and VEGFR2 expressions in adenocarcinoma tissue samples were 46.49% (53/114) and 46.49% (53/114), respectively. There was no evidence indicating that VEGFA expression was significantly associated with the clinical characteristics of patients with lung adenocarcinoma, but VEGFR2 expression was significantly correlated with the tumor size (P = 0.03). COX proportional hazards regression model revealed that VEGFA and VEGFR2 expressions had no significant effects on patients’ DFS; the tumor size > 4 cm (relative risk: 2.29; 95% confidence interval: 1.32-3.97; P = 0.003) and the number of PLNs ≥ 2 (relative risk: 2.15; 95% confidence interval: 1.27-3.64; P = 0.005) were independent factors to predict DFS of patients with lung adenocarcinoma after surgery. Conclusion: For patients with lung adenocarcinoma receiving surgery, VEGFA and VEGFR2 expressions have no significant correlation with DFS; the tumor size > 4 cm and the number of PLNs ≥ 2 may be the independent factors affecting DFS. DOI:10.3781/j.issn.1000-7431.2017.33.282