Vascular endothelial growth factor and interleukin-8 are associated with poor prognosis in epithelial ovarian cancer patients.

Background: Ovarian cancer represents an important problem in gynecologic oncology. A growing tumor induces the host endothelial cells to proliferate and supply the requisite vascular support allowing tumor development. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) have been demonstrated to induce angiogenesis in epithelial tumors in vivo.

Patients And Methods: This study included 24 tumors from patients with epithelial ovarian cancer in different stages, in addition to 20 tissue samples of benign ovarian lesions as a control group. VEGF has been measured in the cytosolic fractions using enzyme immunoassay and confirmed by Western blot analysis. Tissue IL-8 mRNA was assessed using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry for its protein.

Results: VEGF mean rank was significantly higher in ovarian cancer tumors compared to benign lesions (P < 0.001). Moreover, it was increased with advanced stages (P < 0.05) and in patients with poor survival (P < 0.05). Eight samples were positive for IL-8 mRNA, seven of them were in malignant group, with highest frequency in stages III and IV of the disease (6/12, 50%). IL-8 correlated with poor survival of the patients (P < 0.05). Log rank of Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was significant for FIGO stage, VEGF, and IL-8 (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: These results indicate that VEGF and IL-8 are related to the malignant transformation process and can be considered as indicators of poor prognosis in epithelial ovarian cancer patients.