VEGF expression was positive in 66.67% GC cases, and its level was significantly associated with tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage, invasion depth and lymph-node metastasis (P<0.05).
Angiogenesis induced by proangiogenic molecules such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a key process in the progression and metastasis of gastric cancer.
Associations between FITC, CEA, NLR, foxp3+ Treg lymphocytes (both 1- and 3-year OS), CA 19-9, or VEGF and GC OS were supported by highly suggestive evidence, however, the results should be interpreted cautiously due to inadequate methodological quality as deemed by AMSTAR 2.0.
By comparing the two groups, u-PA and VEGF were positively correlated in gastric cancer tissue (P < 0.05). u-PA and VEGF were highly expressed in gastric cancer tissue, which could be used as the molecular biological indicators to predict the invasion and metastasis potential of gastric cancer.
EGCG inhibits IL-6-induced VEGF expression and angiogenesis via suppressing Stat3 activity in gastric cancer, which has provided a novel mechanistic insight into the anti-angiogenic activity of EGCG.
Expert opinion: Results of recent studies clearly demonstrated that trastuzumab and ramucirumab, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), respectively, improved overall survival (OS) in GC with manageable safety profiles.
Finally, results from in vivo experiments suggested that overexpression of miR-361-5p suppressed tumor growth and the expression of VEGF markedly through inhibiting EMT via the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in GC nude mice.
Furthermore, genetically enforced alterations of activated Stat3 expression led to altered VEGF expression and angiogenic potential in human gastric cancer cells.
However, ramucirumab that targets VEGF receptor-2 prolonged overall survival in a large phase III clinical trial and it might be an effective molecular targeting therapy for gastric cancer.
In addition, molecular therapy has been designed to target biomarkers such as growth factors (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, VEGF) and chemokines, although they have not clearly proven to be effective in inhibiting GC metastasis in clinical trials.
In addition, ramucirumab, a monoclonal antibody targeting vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)-2, is the first biological treatment that showed survival benefits as a single-agent therapy in patients with advanced GC who progressed after first-line chemotherapy.
In addition, the message RNA (mRNA) expression of COX-2 and VEGF-A was evaluated in ten fresh surgically resected human gastric cancers and paired normal gastric mucosas using semi-quantitative reverse transcriptional polymerase chain reaction analysis.