OF GASTRIC CANCER PATIENTS

Lisnyak I.A., Sergienko T.K.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays an important role in the vascularization of tissues, in particular tumor ones. This study was aimed to detect the level of VEGF in the serum of patients with gastric cancer (GC) and evaluate its correlation with pathological variables. Level of VEGF was measured by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay in 138 patients with GC (I-IV Stage) and 10 healthy donors. Patients have been operated only without any previous treatment. Serum VEGF levels in gastric cancer patients were significantly higher than those in donors. No correlation was detected between VEGF levels and clinicopathological features of disease. It was shown that VEGF levels before operation ≥ 290,0 ng/ml can be evaluated as nonfavourable factor. There was no significant correlation between VEGF levels and patients survival. The increase of VEGF levels after operation compared with preoperative levels can manifest the tumor recurrence and/or metastasis. Determination of serum VEGF levels after operation may be clinically usefull for monitoring of patients for early detection of disease progression.