Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and the adhesion molecule E-cadherin in non-small cell lung cancer

Tumor angiogenesis plays an important role in tumor growth, maintenance and metastatic potential. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an endothelial cell-specific mitogen and a potent inducer of vessel permeability and angiogenesis in vivo. The aims of this study were to determine the value of VEGF expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and its association with vascularity, E-cadherin expression and clinicopathological variables. The expression of VEGF and E-cadherin was studied immunohistochemically in 88 NSCLC (48 squamous cell carcinomas, 30 adenocarcinomas, 10 large cell carcinomas). Vascularity was measured by the average number of CD31-positive cells (MVC: microvessel count). A high expression of VEGF (> or = 25% of cells) was observed in 75% and 73.34% of squamous cell carcinomas and adenocarcinomas, respectively, and in all cases of large cell carcinomas. High vascularity was associated with high VEGF expression. VEGF and MVC were correlated with low tumor differentiation (p < 0.001). Reduced E-cadherin expression (< 50% of cells) was noted in 61.36% of tumors and was associated with poor differentiation (p < 0.0001). The simultaneous high expression of VEGF and reduced expression of E-cadherin was correlated with tumor dedifferentiation (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the intratumoral VEGF expression correlates with tumor angiogenesis and histological differentiation. Reduced expression of E-cadherin is associated with poor tumor differentiation. Combined evaluation of VEGF and E-cadherin may become a useful indicator of NSCLC biological behavior and provide clinically important evidence on which to base treatment.