Vasular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF): a new tumour marker in breast cancer?

Abstract

<h3>Background</h3> We investigated the role of vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) in breast cancer. <h3>Methods</h3> VEGF, CA 15-3, CEA and TPA were determined over a period of 18 months in the department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics at the Technical University Dresden, Germany. The investigation was conducted on 314 sera from patients with previously diagnosed breast cancer. They had undergone surgery and were classified in stages 0–IV according the TNM classification. The control group was composed of 58 sera from healthy women aged 23–84 years old. VEGF was measured according to the sandwich principle with a monoclonal enzyme immunoassay (EIA) from R&D Systems (USA) and CA 15-3, CEA and TPA were measured with a monoclonal immunoluminometric assay (ILMA) from DiaSorin Deutschland GmbH (Germany). <h3>Results</h3> The median of all four parameters increased with the tumour stages. Only VEGF had a high decrease between stages 3 and 4. The differences of the values between the control group and stages 0–3 were only significant for VEGF and TPA. The combination of TPA and VEGF had the highest sensitivities for stages 0–3. <h3>Conclusion</h3> It can be suggested that VEGF plays crucial roles in the promotion of angiogenesis in breast cancer. However, this investigation also shows that tumour markers are not used for definitive diagnosis, they are used as aids to help physicians make decisions, after combining other clinical and diagnostic data.