Relationship between Vitamin D Receptor Expression with VEGF-A in Women with Metastastic Breast Cancer in Dr. Soetomo General Hospital Surabaya

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is a malignancy in breast tissue. Breast cancer is the second highest cause of death from cancer in Indonesia. One of the main causes of death in breast cancer is metastatic breast cancer which the 5-year survival rate is only 23.3%. Vitamin D levels and expression of Vitamin D receptors are very important in the process of angiogenesis, especially in endothelial cells of tumor’s blood vessels. Activation of vitamin D receptors and vitamin D will inhibit the process of neo-angiogenesis thereby reducing the risk of metastasis. Decreased angiogenesis activity can be seen from VEGF-A expression. Method: The research’s design is cross-sectional research. The study was done by immunohistochemical staining of breast cancer tissue of patients with metastatic breast cancer for the expression of vitamin D receptors and VEGF-A. Results: Total patients of this study are 24 patients. It was obtained 19 people (79,2%) aged <50 years and 5 people (20,8%) aged> 50 years. It was also obtained 4 people (16,6%) with liver metastases, 6 people (25%) with contralateral breast metastases, 4 people (16,6%) with pulmonary metastases, and 10 people (41,8%) with bone metastases. The mean expression of vitamin D receptors was 67,1%±14,1% and the mean VEGF-A was 67,5%±6,7%. It was found that there was a significant relationship between the expression of vitamin D receptors and VEGF-A (p = 0.007). The cut-off point of VDR is 74,38% and VEGF-A is 69,1%. Conclusion: There is a positive correlation between VDR expression and VEGF-A expression in patients with metastatic breast cancer