Elevated serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor predict a poor prognosis of platinum-based chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer

Figures & data

Table 1 Patient characteristics

Clinicopathological characteristics	Patients, n (%)
Sex
Male	91 (67.41)
Female	44 (32.59)
Age, years
>60	61 (45.19)
≤60	74 (54.81)
TNM stage
III	48 (35.56)
IV	87 (64.44)
Location
Central	34 (25.18)
Peripheral	94 (69.63)
Missing	7 (5.19)
Histological grade
Grade 1	2 (1.48)
Grade 2	10 (7.41)
Grade 3	37 (27.41)
Grade data missing	86 (63.70)

Abbreviation: TNM, tumor node metastasis.

Table 2 Clinicopathological features associated with VEGF in non-small cell lung cancer patients

Variables	VEGF (pg/mL)
	Median (IQR)	P-value
Sex		0.0975
Male	141.00 (80.00, 250.00)
Female	98.50 (32.00, 234.00)
Age (years)		0.2522
>60	149.00 (66.00, 151.00)
≤60	115.50 (10.00, 227.00)
TNM stage		0.1407
IV	112.00 (40.00, 227.00)
III	153.50 (87.50, 257.50)
Lymph node metastasis		0.6409
N1	121.50 (32.00, 284.00)
N2	135.00 (64.00, 253.00)
N3	183.00 (90.00, 285.00)
Location		0.3520
Central	156.00 (75.00, 259.00)
Peripheral	127.00 (48.00, 241.00)
Histology		0.4885
SCC	153.50 (63.50, 271.50)
ADC	122.00 (50.00, 225.00)
Histological grade		0.5608
Grade 1	220.50 (200.00, 241.00)
Grade 2	102.50 (62.00, 225.00)
Grade 3	122.00 (50.00, 250.00)
Response*		0.9859
CR + PR	138.00 (41.00, 241.00)
SD + PD	119.50 (62.00, 243.00)

Note:

* Tumor response was evaluated according to the response evaluation criteria for solid tumors.³³

Abbreviations: ADC, adenocarcinomas; CR, complete response; IQR, interquartile range; PD, progressive disease; PR, partial response; SCC, squamous cell carcinomas; SD, stable disease; TNM, tumor node metastasis; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor.

Figure 1 Progression-free survival with high (≥280 pg/mL) and low (<280 pg/mL) pretreatment serum VEGF levels, respectively.

Note: Hazard ratio (high versus low) =1.60 (95% CI, 1.063–2.408), P=0.024.
Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor.

Table 3 Univariate analysis for prognosis of patients with NSCLC

Variables	Univariate		Multivariate*
	HR (95% CI)	P-value	HR (95% CI)	P-value
Sex		0.2770
Male	1.237 (0.843, 1.816)
Female
Age (years)		0.1956
>60	1.268 (0.885, 1.816)
≤ 60
TNM stage		0.932
IV	1.016 (0.700, 1.475)
III
Location		0.941
Peripheral	0.941 (0.619, 1.430)
Central
VEGF (pg/mL)		0.0494		0.024
>280	1.539 (1.001, 2.365)		1.600 (1.063, 2.408)
≤280
PLT (×10^9/L)		0.4046
>300	0.815 (0.503, 1.319)
≤300
VEGF^PLT (×10^−6 pg)		0.1288
>0.55	1.326 (0.921, 1.909)
≤ 0.55
ΔVEGF^PLT		0.7380
>0.005	1.064 (0.738, 1.534)
≤ 0.005
CR + PR (pg/mL)		0.7390
VEGF >280	1.112 (0.596, 2.074)
VEGF ≤280
SD + PD (pg/mL)		0.0310		0.0224
VEGF >280	1.935 (1.062, 3.527)		2.087 (1.110, 3.926)
VEGF ≤280

Note:

* Adjusted for age and sex.

Abbreviations: ΔVEGF^PLT, the minus value of VEGF^PLT before the first cycle minus the value after the chemotherapy; CI, confidence interval; CR, complete response; HR, hazard ratio; NSCLC, non-small cell lung cancer; PD, progressive disease; PLT, platelets; PR, partial response; SD, stable disease; TNM, tumor node metastasis; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor; VEGF^PLT, VEGF load per platelet.

TherassePArbuckSGEisenhauerEANew guidelines to evaluate the response to treatment in solid tumors. European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, National Cancer Institute of the United States, National Cancer Institute of CanadaJ Natl Cancer Inst200092320521610655437

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