ObjectiveTo study immunohistochemical expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) renal-cell carcinoma (RCC) and correlate its expression with the studied clinicopathologic parameters.BackgroundRCC is the sixth diagnosed cancer in males and the tenth in females accounting for 5 and 3% of cancer incidence, respectively. VEGF is a peptide with angiogenic properties. It is thought to have an important role in RCC development and progression.Patients and methodsThis retrospective study was performed on 58 cases of RCC and 31 cases of nonneoplastic kidney tissue. The slides were subjected to VEGF immunohistochemical staining using a streptavidin–biotin–peroxidase technique. The relationships between VEGF expression in RCC cases and nonneoplastic cases, as well as correlation between VEGF expression and clinicopathological parameters in RCC cases, were statistically analyzed.ResultsVEGF showed low expression in 27.6% and high expression in 72.4% of RCC cases versus 48.4 and 51.6% in nonneoplastic cases, respectively. Higher VEGF expression was correlated with female sex, left-sided tumors, low tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, and higher-grade tumors.ConclusionHigher VEGF expression is correlated with RCC development and may be an indicator of poor outcome in RCC patients.