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Goussia A, Simou N, Zagouri F, Manousou K, Lazaridis G, Gogas H, Koutras A, Sotiropoulou M, Pentheroudakis G, Bafaloukos D, Markopoulos C, Patsea H, Christodoulou C, Papakostas P, Zaramboukas T, Samantas E, Kosmidis P, Venizelos V, Karanikiotis C, Papatsibas G, Xepapadakis G, Kalogeras KT, Bamia C, Dimopoulos MA, Malamou-Mitsi V, Fountzilas G, Batistatou A. Associations of angiogenesis-related proteins with specific prognostic factors, breast cancer subtypes and survival outcome in early-stage breast cancer patients. A Hellenic Cooperative Oncology Group (HeCOG) trial. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0200302. [PMID: 30063723 PMCID: PMC6067711 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2018] [Accepted: 06/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Several studies support an important role of angiogenesis in breast cancer growth and metastasis. The main objectives of the study were to investigate the immunohistochemical expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family ligands (VEGF-A and VEGF-C) and receptors (VEGFR1, VEGFR2 and VEGFR3) in breast cancer and their associations with clinicopathological parameters, cancer subtypes/subgroups and patient outcome. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor tissue samples were collected from early-stage breast cancer patients treated with anthracycline-based chemotherapy within a randomized trial. Immunohistochemistry was performed on serial 2.5 μm thick tissue sections from tissue microarray blocks. High VEGF-A, VEGF-C, VEGFR1, VEGFR2 and VEGFR3 protein expression was observed in 11.8% (N = 87), 80.8% (N = 585), 28.1% (N = 202), 64.6% (N = 359) and 71.8% (N = 517) of the cases, respectively. Significant associations were observed among all proteins (all p-values <0.05), with the exception of the one between VEGF-C and VEGFR1 (chi-square test, p = 0.15). Tumors with high VEGF-A protein expression, as compared to tumors with low expression were more frequently ER/PgR-negative (33.3% vs. 20.8%, chi-square test, p = 0.009) and HER2-positive (44.8% vs. 20.6%, p<0.001). In addition, tumors with high VEGFR1 expression, were more frequently HER2-positive (32.8% vs. 19.6%, p<0.001), while tumors with high VEGFR3 expression were more frequently ER/PgR-negative (24.9% vs. 17.0%, p = 0.024) and HER2-positive (26.9% vs. 14.8%, p = 0.001). High VEGF-A and VEGF-C protein expression was associated with increased DFS in the entire cohort (HR = 0.57, 95% CI 0.36–0.92, Wald’s p = 0.020 and HR = 0.71, 95% CI 0.52–0.96, p = 0.025, respectively), as well as in specific subtypes/subgroups, such as HER2-positive (VEGF-A, HR = 0.32, 95% CI 0.14–0.74, p = 0.008) and triple-negative (VEGF-C, HR = 0.44, 95% CI 0.21–0.91, p = 0.027) patients. High vs. low VEGFR1 expression was an unfavorable factor for DFS in triple-negative patients (HR = 2.74, 95% CI 1.26–5.98, p = 0.011), whereas the opposite was observed among the ER/PgR-positive patients (HR = 0.69, 95% CI 0.48–0.98, p = 0.041). Regarding OS, high VEGF-C protein expression was associated with increased OS in the entire cohort (HR = 0.64, 95% CI 0.46–0.89, Wald’s p = 0.008), as well as in in specific subtypes/subgroups, such as ER/PgR-negative (HR = 0.37, 95% CI 0.20–0.71, p = 0.003) and triple-negative (HR = 0.42, 95% CI 0.19–0.90, p = 0.026) patients. In conclusion, high expression of angiogenesis-related proteins is associated with adverse clinicopathological parameters in early-stage breast cancer patients and may be surrogate markers of biologically distinct subgroups of ER/PgR-negative or triple-negative tumors with superior outcome. Further validation of our findings in independent cohorts is needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Goussia
- Department of Pathology, Ioannina University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece
- * E-mail:
| | - Nafsika Simou
- Department of Pathology, Ioannina University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece
| | - Flora Zagouri
- Department of Clinical Therapeutics, Alexandra Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Medicine, Athens, Greece
| | - Kyriaki Manousou
- Section of Biostatistics, Hellenic Cooperative Oncology Group, Athens, Greece
| | - Georgios Lazaridis
- Department of Medical Oncology, Papageorgiou Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Helen Gogas
- First Department of Medicine, Laiko General Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Medicine, Athens, Greece
| | - Angelos Koutras
- Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, University Hospital, University of Patras Medical School, Patras, Greece
| | | | | | | | - Christos Markopoulos
- Second Department of Prop. Surgery, Laiko General Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Medicine, Athens, Greece
| | - Helen Patsea
- Department of Pathology, IASSO General Hospital, Athens, Greece
| | | | | | - Thomas Zaramboukas
- Department of Pathology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Epaminontas Samantas
- Third Department of Medical Oncology, Agii Anargiri Cancer Hospital, Athens, Greece
| | - Paris Kosmidis
- Second Department of Medical Oncology, Hygeia Hospital, Athens, Greece
| | | | | | - George Papatsibas
- Oncology Department, University General Hospital of Larissa, Larissa, Greece
| | | | - Konstantine T. Kalogeras
- Translational Research Section, Hellenic Cooperative Oncology Group, Athens, Greece
- Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, Hellenic Foundation for Cancer Research/Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Christina Bamia
- Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Medicine, Athens, Greece
| | - Meletios-Athanassios Dimopoulos
- Department of Clinical Therapeutics, Alexandra Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Medicine, Athens, Greece
| | - Vassiliki Malamou-Mitsi
- Department of Pathology, Ioannina University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece
| | - George Fountzilas
- Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, Hellenic Foundation for Cancer Research/Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Anna Batistatou
- Department of Pathology, Ioannina University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece
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