Prognostic values of VEGF and IL-8 in malignant pleural effusion in patients with lung cancer

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of VEGF and IL-8 in pleural effusion in patients with lung cancer.

Materials and method: Commercially available ELISA was used to determine VEGF and IL-8 levels.

Results: The level of VEGF showed significant correlations with lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis. But, IL-8 was only correlated with lymph node metastasis. Univariate and multivariate analysis revealed elevated VEGF level was an independent predictor of shorter OS and DFS.

Conclusion: VEGF could be an important component that contributes to pleural effusion formation, and an important prognostic factor for lung cancer.

• Cytokine
• pleural effusion
• prognosis
• tumor

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank No.202 Hospital for providing the pleural effusion samples. We also thank Professor Liang Bin for her assistance with the statistical analyses.