Evaluation of prognostic value of VEGF-C and VEGF-D in breast cancer--10 years follow-up analysis.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the prognostic value of vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) and VEGF-D expression in stage II, grade 2 and 3, ductal breast cancer patients.The immunohistochemical staining of 98 tumor samples and 5- and 10-year overall (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were analyzed.A significant relationship between VEGF-C and VEGF-D expression (p=0.000002) was noted. No correlations between protein expression and clinical parameters (tumor size, grade, estrogen receptor status, axillaty lymph node metastases and age) or 5- and 10-year DFS or OS were demonstrated. A close to significant correlation (p=0.084) was observed between high expression of VEGF-C and 5-year OS.Our study did not reveal any prognostic value of VEGF-C or VEGF-D. Therefore they are not useful as markers for patients with poor prognosis. Unlike in other studies, our patient group was homogenous which might have contributed to the results obtained.