Pretreatment Levels of Serum Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor do not Correlate with Outcome in Patients with Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer

Objective: To evaluate pretreatment levels of serum VEGF in locally advanced cervical cancer patients, andassess any association with clinocopathological parameters and response to radiotherapy.
Methods: Patientswith histologically proven and diagnosed locally advanced cervical cancer or stages IIB-IVA were included inthis study. Blood serum was obtained by peripheral venous puncture about 24 hours before the beginning ofradiotherapy. All patients were followed up at one and three month intervals from the last day of the completetreatment for evaluating the responses to radiotherapy.
Results: Mean age of the 40 patients was 52.8±11.1years. Sixty percent were in stage IIB and 90% had squamous cell carcinoma. The median pretreatment level ofserum VEGF was 611.3 pg/ml (0.00-4,067.20 pg/ml). The pretreatment levels of serum VEGF did not correlatewith stage (p=0.75), tumor histology (p=0.91), tumor size (p=0.46) or tumor characteristics (p=0.49). Almost allpatients received concurrent chemoradiation as a curative treatment, with a complete response found in 94.9%.Values for patients who were completed response was rather lower than patients with persistent disease, butwithout statistical significance (581.4 pg/ml vs 759.6 pg/ml, p=0.37).
Conclusion: Pretreatment levels of serumVEGF do not correlate with clinicopathological factors or response to radiation therapy.