Prognostic significance of immunohistochemical expression of the angiogenic molecules vascular endothelial growth factor-A, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1 and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 in patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma

Abstract

Angiogenesis leads to new blood vessel formation and is implicated in both physiological and pathological situations. The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family is the major mediator of this process. The aim of our study was to evaluate the expression of VEGF-A, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1 (VEGFR-1) and VEGFR-2 and their correlation with clinicopathological parameters and prognosis in patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL), since the role of angiogenesis in this tumor still remains unclear. The immunohistochemical expression of VEGF-A, VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2 was examined in 194 patients with cHL. The neoplastic Hodgkin Reed–Sternberg (HRS) cells expressed VEGF-A, VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2 in 90.3%, 97.2% and 94.1% of cases, respectively. Only the expression of VEGFR-2 was positively correlated with serum albumin levels ≥ 4 g/dL. No correlation with patient outcome was observed. All three molecules were statistically correlated with ramifications of blood vessels. Summarizing, our results are not sufficient to consider VEGF-A and/or VEGF receptors as prognosticators in cHL.

Keywords::

• Hodgkin lymphoma
• angiogenesis
• prognosis
• VEGF-A
• VEGFR-1
• VEGFR-2

Acknowledgements

We would like particularly to thank Professor Vassilis Gorgoulis for his helpful remarks and suggestions.

Potential conflict of interest

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at www.informahealthcare.com/lal.

This research was partially supported by grant 70/4/9133 from the Special Account of Funds for Research (E.L.K.E., Greece) of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.