Quantification of angiogenic factors and their clinicopathological associations in breast cancer

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the top three common cancers in women, responsible for nearly one-third of all new cancer diagnoses. Angiogenesis plays a crucial role in BC progression. In this study, we aimed to measure the serum concentrations of eight angiogenic factors in BC patients and healthy controls and to assess their correlation with clinicopathological variables.

In a case-control study, 62 pathologically confirmed BC patients as well as 54 age-matched controls were recruited. A bead-based immunoassay was used to measure serum levels of VEGF-A, ANG-2, PDGF-AA, PDGF-BB, EGF, TGF-α, HGF, and bFGF.

We observed a significant elevation in serum levels of VEGF-A, EGF, and PDGF-AA in BC patients compared with the controls (P < 0.05). Patients with grade III had higher ANG-2 levels compared with those with grades I (P = 0.007) and II of the disease (P = 0.003). In addition, estrogen-positive and progesterone-positive BC patients had higher levels of TGF-α (P < 0.05).

The significant elevation of VEGF-A, EGF, and PDGF-AA serum levels in BC patients suggests these cytokines might have diagnostic value as potential biomarkers in BC. Further large-scale studies are needed to generalize these results to all BC patients.