<Original article>Clinical Significance of VEGF and dThdPase Expressions in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Esophagus

Objectives: The purposes of this study were to clarify the relation between the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and thymidine phosphorylase (dThdPase) expression in tumor progression, and to evaluate the prognostic influence of these angiogenic factors in patients with esophageal cancer. Methods: VEGF and dThdPase expression and microvessel density (MVD) were immunohistochemically studied in esophageal cancer specimens resected from 103 patients by extended radical esophagectomy. The expression status of VEGF and dThdPase was compared with intratumoral MVD, clinicopathologic parameters of tumor progression, and patient survival after esophagectomy. Results: dThdPase expression was significantly correlated with depth of invasion (P=0.0249) and the size (P=0.0004) of primary tumors. VEGF expression significantly correlated with the depth (P=0.0030) and size (P=0.0345) of the primary tumor. There was no relation between dThdPase and VEGF expression status. dThdPase expression had a significant association with MVD (P=0.0203), whereas VEGF expression had no such association. The survival curves of patients did not differ according to the expression status of dThdPase and/or VEGF. Conclusions: The expression of VEGF and dThdPase was associated with the progression of esophageal cancer by different tumor angiogenic mechanisms. However, the expression of these angiogenic factors had no significant influence upon the survival of patients who underwent extended radical esophagectomy for esophageal cancer.