Quantification of Angiogenic Factors in Breast Cancer and Assessment of Their Clinicopathological Correlations

Introduction and Aim: Breast cancer (BC) is one of the top three common cancers in women, responsible for 30% of all new cancer diagnoses. Angiogenesis plays a pivotal role in BC progression. In this study, our goal was to measure the serum concentrations of 8 angiogenic factors in BC patients and healthy controls and to assess their association with clinicopathological variables. Methods: 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, PDGF-AA, PDGF-BB, Angiopoietin-2, EGF, TGF-α, HGF and bFGF. The results of the measurements were analyzed by SPSS 22 software. Results: We observed a significant elevation in the serum levels of VEGF-A, EGF and PDGF-AA in BC patients compared with the controls. A significant correlation was observed between the grade and stage of BC and Angiopoietin-2 level. In addition, estrogen positive and progesterone-positive BC patients had higher levels of TGF-α. We also detected a positive correlation between serum VEGF level and HGF, EGF and TGF-α levels. HGF level was positively correlated with TGF-α and EGF levels and bFGF .concentration was positively correlated with PDGF-BB concentration Conclusion: The significant elevation of VEGF-A, EGF and PDGF-AA serum levels in BC patients suggests these cytokines as potential biomarkers in BC. The positive correlation observed among some of these angiogenic factors provides us with an insight into the interplay between different angiogenic factors involved in BC.

کلیدواژه ها:

Breast Cancer ، Angiogenesis ، Metastasis