VEGF-D correlates with metastatic disease in gastric cancer patients undergoing surgery.

Background: The present study was designed to evaluate the impact of the tyrosine kinase ligands VEGF-A/C/D, PDGF-A/B on tumor dissemination and survival in gastric cancer. This is the first study analyzing all these parameters in a homogeneous patient population undergoing surgery.

Methods: The expression pattern of VEGF-A/C/D and PDGF-A/B was analyzed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in 69 samples of human gastric adenocarcinoma and correlated with tumor stage and survival.

Results: Expression of the ligand VEGF-D significantly correlated with distant metastatic disease (P=0.00001) but not with patient survival. However, VEGF-A inversely correlated with M1 and grading, PDGF-A inversely correlated with pT and pN category. In contrast, VEGF-C and PDGF-B did not have an impact on clinicopathological parameters.

Conclusions: The ligand VEGF-D, rather than the other ligands or tyrosine kinase receptors analyzed, is associated with progressive disease in gastric cancer patients undergoing surgery. The VEGF-D ligand might be a helpful marker indicating disseminated disease, and targeting VEGF-D may be a potential therapeutic strategy, although limitations imposed by the selected sample population have to be considered critically.