Vascular endothelial growth factor –A (VEGF-A) expression as a prognostic factor in breast cancer

Objective: To assess the expression of VEGF-A in breast cancer patient and to find an association between VEGF- A overexpression and the clinicopathologic features. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted from January 2010 through 2016. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded blocks from 64 patients with breast cancer were included in this study. S treptavidinbiotin method was employed for immunohistochemical detection of VEGF. Results: The detection rate of VEGF was 93.5%. There was a significant difference in the immunoexpression of VEGF A between the different histological types of carcinoma. However, no significant differen ces were noted among age groups, tumor sizes, perineural invasion and overall survival. Conclusion: In our study, VEGF overexpression was positiv ely associated with only the histological type of breast cancer. Further studies involving patients with advanced diseases are required to establish an association between the VEGF-A over expression and survival outcomes and to use it as a prognostic biomarker. Keywords: Breast cancer, VEGFA, prognosis, histologic type, association.