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VEGF: a critical pro-angiogenic factor in breast cancer

Of six angiogenic factors analysed by Relf et al. only VEGF significantly correlated with breast cancer relapse¹⁶

Reprinted with permission of the American Association for Cancer Research. Relf M, LeJeune S, Scott PA, et al. Cancer Res 1997;57:963–9.

In a study by Relf et al., expression of VEGF significantly correlated with an increased risk of relapse. Of the six angiogenic factors studied by the investigators, only VEGF showed a significant correlation with relapse.¹⁶

In a series of elegant experiments, Relf and colleagues measured the mRNA levels of several angiogenic factors in 64 primary breast tumour samples and investigated relationships between expression levels and tumour growth and progression. The factors analysed included VEGF, TGF-β1, pleiotrophin, a- and bFGF and PD-ECGF. Overall, they showed that VEGF is one of the most important mediators of tumour angiogenesis in human breast cancer tissue and that elevated VEGF mRNA levels correlated with poor survival. Importantly, Relf et al. also showed that, of all the angiogenic factors studied, VEGF was the only factor linked to poor relapse-free survival.¹⁶