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Published in: Tumor Biology 4/2014

01-04-2014 | Research Article

VEGF-C expression is associated with the poor survival in gastric cancer tissue

Authors: Weiguo Cao, Rong Fan, Weiping Yang, Yunlin Wu

Published in: Tumor Biology | Issue 4/2014

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Abstract

Vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) is considered as a prime mediator of lymphangiogenesis and has been implicated in carcinogenesis and metastasis. Various studies examined the relationship between VEGF-C overexpression and the clinical outcome in patients with gastric cancer, but yielded conflicting results. Electronic databases updated to July 2013 were searched to find relevant studies. A meta-analysis was conducted with eligible studies which quantitatively evaluated the relationship between VEGF-C overexpression and survival of patients with gastric cancer. Survival data were aggregated and quantitatively analyzed. We performed a meta-analysis of 13 studies that evaluated the correlation between VEGF-C overexpression and survival in patients with gastric cancer. Combined hazard ratios suggested that VEGF-C overexpression had an unfavorable impact on overall survival (OS) (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.38, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 1.08–1.68), but not disease-free survival (DFS) (HR = 1.25, 95 % CI = 0.89–1.62) in patients with gastric cancer. No significant heterogeneity (P = 0.132) was observed among 11 studies for OS and among 5 studies for DFS (P = 0.105). VEGF-C overexpression indicates a poor prognosis for overall survival, but not disease-free survival in patients with gastric cancer.
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Metadata
Title
VEGF-C expression is associated with the poor survival in gastric cancer tissue
Authors
Weiguo Cao
Rong Fan
Weiping Yang
Yunlin Wu
Publication date
01-04-2014
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
Tumor Biology / Issue 4/2014
Print ISSN: 1010-4283
Electronic ISSN: 1423-0380
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-013-1445-0

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