Expression of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Family Members in Breast Cancer

Abstract

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)‐A is known to play an important role in tumor angiogenesis. Three additional members of the VEGF family, VEGF‐B, ‐C and ‐D, have recently been discovered. VEGF‐C and VEGF‐D are ligands for VEGF receptor‐3, which is expressed in the endothelium of lymphatic vessels. The expression of VEGF‐C is known to be associated with the development of lymphatic vessels. Therefore, it is conceivable that VEGF‐C and VEGF‐D might play a role in the development of lymphatic vessels in solid tumors. To obtain some clue as to this role, we developed a semi‐quantitative reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction method to investigate the mRNA expression levels of each VEGF family member in breast cancer. All the VEGF family members were expressed at different levels in seven human breast cancer cell lines explored. Although VEGF‐A and VEGF‐B expressions were detected in both node‐positive and node‐negative breast tumors, VEGF‐C expression was detected only in node‐positive tumors. VEGF‐D expression was detected only in an inflammatory breast cancer and a tumor which developed an inflammatory skin metastasis. These findings suggest a possible relationship between the expression level of VEGF‐C and/or VEGF‐D and the development of lymphatic tumor spread.

Expression of Tip60, an androgen receptor coactivator, and its role in prostate cancer development

“…However, there have been reports where upregulation and/or dysfunctional subcellular trafficking of coactivator molecules correlates with a more malignant phenotype. For example, the expression levels of several coactivators (TIF2, AIB1, CBP and PCAF) are upregulated during breast cancer development, and correlate with the aggressive phenotype of advanced disease (Kurebayashi et al, 2000). In contrast, Chen et al (2001) reported that the rhabdomyosarcoma phenotype associates with a dysfunctional subcellular localization of p160 family members.…”

Discovery of differentially expressed genes in human breast cancer using subtracted cDNA libraries and cDNA microarrays

“…We next performed DNA sequencing analysis of these 96 clones, which revealed several genes that are known to be overexpressed in breast tumors (Table 1). These genes are mammaglobin (Watson and Fleming, 1996), keratin (Trask et al, 1990), and estrogen receptor (Kurebayashi et al, 2000). Of the 96 clones examined, four clones did not match any entry (550% identity) in the public databases including GenBank DNA and human EST.…”

Quantification of estrogen receptor α and β expression in sporadic breast cancer

“…ERb expression in breast cancer has mainly been studied at the mRNA level (Dotzlaw et al, 1999;Speirs et al, 1999;Knowlden et al, 2000;Kurebayashi et al, 2000). Pilot studies of small series of breast tumors point to a di erent tissue distribution of ERb and ERa (the previously known ER), as well as far weaker ERb than ERa expression (Knowlden et al, 2000;.…”