Pretreatment levels of serum vascular endothelial growth factor do not correlate with outcome in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer.

Objective: To evaluate pretreatment levels of serum VEGF in locally advanced cervical cancer patients, and assess any association with clinocopathological parameters and response to radiotherapy.

Methods: Patients with histologically proven and diagnosed locally advanced cervical cancer or stages IIB-IVA were included in this study. Blood serum was obtained by peripheral venous puncture about 24 hours before the beginning of radiotherapy. All patients were followed up at one and three month intervals from the last day of the complete treatment for evaluating the responses to radiotherapy.

Results: Mean age of the 40 patients was 52.8 ± 11.1 years. Sixty percent were in stage IIB and 90% had squamous cell carcinoma. The median pretreatment level of serum VEGF was 611.3 pg/ml (0.00-4,067 pg/ml). The pretreatment levels of serum VEGF did not correlate with stage (p=0.75), tumor histology (p=0.91), tumor size (p=0.46) or tumor characteristics (p=0.49). Almost all patients received concurrent chemoradiation as a curative treatment, with a complete response found in 94.9%. Values for patients who were completed response was rather lower than in patients with persistent disease, but without statistical significance (581.4 pg/ml vs 759.6 pg/ml, p=0.37).

Conclusion: Pretreatment levels of serum VEGF do not correlate with clinicopathological factors or response to radiation therapy.