Clinical significance of vascular endothelial growth factor and connexin43 for predicting pancreatic cancer clinicopathologic parameters

Vasiformation is essential for the growth and metastasis of tumor. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and connexin43 (Cx43) are important regulatory factors of vasiformation. This study aimed to find out the expression features of VEGF and Cx43 and their significance in pancreatic cancer. The expression levels of VEGF and Cx43 protein in the samples, which came from 100 patients of human pancreatic cancer tissues and adjacent normal pancreatic tissues, were examined by using immunohistochemical streptavidin–peroxidase (S–P) method, Western-blotting, and RT–PCR analyses. Compared with adjacent normal pancreatic tissues, RT–PCR showed that the expression of VEGF mRNA was significantly higher in pancreatic cancer tissues (0.788 ± 0.290, P < 0.01) and Cx43 mRNA was significantly lower in pancreatic cancer tissues (0.403 ± 0.204, P < 0.01). The expression of VEGF protein was higher in pancreatic cancer tissue (0.745 ± 0.254, P < 0.01) by Western-blot, and Cx43 protein was obviously lower in pancreatic cancer tissues (0.373 ± 0.164, P < 0.01). The immunohistochemical S–P method showed as follows: the positive expression rate of VEGF and Cx43 protein was 77 and 48% in pancreatic cancer tissues and 15 and 100% in adjacent normal pancreatic tissues; expressions of VEGF were related to tumor size, TNM stage, and lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05); there was a close relation between the expression of Cx43 and histological grades, TNM stage, and lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05). This present study suggests that VEGF is overexpressed and the expression of Cx43 is lower in pancreatic cancer. The expression of VEGF and Cx43 is significantly correlated with TNM stage and lymph node metastasis. Furthermore, VEGF and Cx43 may play an important role in the occurrence, development, and metastasis of pancreatic cancer. To examine VEGF and Cx43 may be of value in judging the malignancy degree and the prognosis of pancreatic cancer.