Co-expression of VEGF-C and survivin predicts poor prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Zeng, Yun-Zhu Zhang, Yong-Qu Lin, Xue-Qiong Chen, Jiong-Yu Zhang, Fan Zhu, Jian-Ling Wei, Xiao-Long
Copyright Year	2021
Abstract	BackgroundLymphatic metastasis is one of the main factors affecting prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) is an important factor that promotes lymphangiogenesis. Survivin also plays a significant role in lymphatic invasion. However, the role and mechanism of their co-expression are still unclear in ESCC. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the co-expression of VEGF-C and survivin could be a potential marker to predict patient prognosis and survival in ESCC.MethodsThe levels of VEGF-C, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3 (VEGFR-3), survivin, and Ki-67 were determined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 97 ESCC patient tumors. The correlations of co-expression of VEGF-C and survivin with pathological features and survival results were also assessed.ResultsHigh VEGF-C expression was observed in 64.9% of the patients and significantly correlated with T stage (P=0.024), node status (P=0.038), and lymph node metastasis (P=0.015). High survivin expression was significantly associated with T stage (P=0.013), N stage (P=0.016), lymph node metastasis (P=0.005), and differentiation (P=0.044) in 67.0% of the patients. Co-expression of VEGF-C and survivin (V+S+) was significantly associated with T stage (P<0.001), N stage (P=0.015), lymph node metastasis (P=0.003), differentiation (P=0.0045), and Ki-67 levels (P=0.024). High expression of VEGF-C or survivin was associated significantly with worse disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) (P<0.05). Moreover, the V+S+ group had a worse DFS (P<0.001) and OS (P=0.001) than any other group (i.e., V–S–, V+S–, V–S+). Furthermore, multivariate DFS analyses (95% CI: 1.147–2.220, P=0.006) and multivariate OS analyses (95% CI: 1.080–2.193, P=0.017) revealed that co-expression of VEGF-C and survivin was an independent prognostic factor in ESCC patients.ConclusionsCo-expression of VEGF-C and survivin was predictive of poor prognosis in ESCC. Combined detection of VEGF-C and survivin could represent a feasible and effective marker to predict the prognosis and survival of ESCC patients.
ISSN	2218676X
Journal	Translational Cancer Research
Volume Number	10
PubMed Central reference number	PMC8799162
Issue Number	1
PubMed reference number	35116253
e-ISSN	22196803
DOI	10.21037/tcr-20-2498
Language	English
Publisher	AME Publishing Company
Publisher Date	2021-01-01
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. 2021 Translational Cancer Research. All rights reserved.
Subject Keyword	Vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) survivin esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) lymph node metastasis prognosis
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging Cancer Research Oncology