[Is the vascular-endothelial growth factor responsible for the malignancy of lung cancer?]

Lung cancer is the most common malignancy in the world. Its large ability to regional extension of the tumor and formation of local and distant metastases causes that the number of deaths and cases of disease are almost identical. The reason of this ability lies in the creation process of blood vessels that is angiogenesis, which main stimulus is the vascular-endothelial growth factor (VEGF). VEGF is synthesized by cancer cells in response to ischemia and a key transcription factor regulating the synthesis of VEGF in hypoxic cell is HIF-1 (hypoxia inducible factor-1). By connecting to its receptors on endothelial cells, the vascular-endothelial growth factor causes an increase in vascular permeability and leakage of plasma protein outside the blood vessel. Forming extracellular matrix becomes the target of migrating and proliferating endothelial cells which finally build a blood vessel. The research confirms that the existence of vasculature in the tumor is a necessary condition to the creation of metastases. The study also revealed that increased levels of VEGF in the plasma of patients with lung cancer correlates with disease progression, in this case the existence of distant metastases. In this work, the authors present the role of vascular-endothelial growth factor in the process of angiogenesis and the biology of the lung cancer and antiangiogenic therapy directions.