• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.691-701
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• 2004

Background: Tissue hypoxia is a characteristic of many human malignant neoplasms, and hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) plays a pivotal role in essential adaptive response to hypoxia, and activates a signal pathway for the expression of the hypoxia-regulated genes, resulting in increased oxygen delivery or facilitating metabolic adaptation to hypoxia. Increased level of HIF-1 a has been reported in many human malignancies, but in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, the influence of HIF-1 a on tumor biology, including neovascularization, is not still defined. Material and Method: The influence of HIF-1 a expression on angiogenic factors, correlation between the tumor proliferation and HIF-1 a expression, interaction of HIF-1 a expression and p53, and correlation between HIF-1 a expression and clinicopathological prognostic parameters were investigated, using immunohistochemical stains for HIF-1 a, VEGF, CD34, p53, and Ki-67 on 77 cases of resected esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Result: HIF-1 a expression in cancer cells was found in 33 of 77 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cases. The 33 cases (42.9%) showed positive stain for HIF-1 a. High HIF-1 a expression was significantly associated with several pathological parameters, such as histologic grade (p=0.032), pathological TMN stage (p=0.002), the depth of tumor invasion (p=0.022), regional lymph node metastasis (p=0.002), distant metastasis (p=0.049), and lymphatic invasion (p=0.004). High HIF-1 a expression had significant VEGF immunoreactivity (p=0.008) and Ki-67 labeling index (p<0.001), but was not correlated with microvascular density within tumors (p=0.088). The high HIF-1 a expression was correlated with aberrant p53 accumulation with a marginal significance (p=0.056). The overall 5-year survival rate was 34.9%. The survival rate of patients with a high HIF-1 a expression was worse than that of patients with low-expression tumors (log-rank test, p=0.0001). High HIF-1 a expression was independent unfavorable factors although statistical significance is marginal in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: It is suggested that (1) high HIF-1 a expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is associated with tumor hypoxia, or with genetic alteration in early carcinogenesis and progressive stages, (2) high HIF-1 a expression may be associated with intratumoral neovascularization through HIF-VEGF pathway, and (3) high HIF-1 a expression is associated with poor prognosis in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and may playa role as biomarker for regional lymph node metastasis.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.138-144
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• 2010

Purpose: Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), which mediates neovascularization of uterine endometrium may be involved in the neovascularization in the utero-placental circulation. Low numbers of endothelial progenitor colony-forming unit (CFU) in culture are predictive biomarker of vascular disease. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether the number of CFU in preeclampsia differed from that in normal pregnancy. Materials and Methods: Women with singleton normal (n=26) or preeclamptic (n=20) pregnancies were studied during the third trimester. The number of EPCs was quantified by CFU methodology. Plasma levels of angiogenic factors, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1), and placental growth factor (PlGF) were determined by enzyme-linked immunoassay. Results: CFU numbers were significantly decreased in the preeclamptic patients compared with the controls (median, 3; range 1-12 vs. 31; 3-81 CFU/well, P<0.001). A majority of the cells comprising individual colonies were positive for endothelial characteristics (Ulex europaeus lectin staining and acetylated low-density lipoprotein uptake). Plasma levels of the sFlt-1 were highly elevated (P<0.001) in patient with preeclampsia compared to controls, whereas PlGF were highly reduced (P=0.004), but these factors did not associate with CFU numbers. Conclusion: Our results suggest that reduced numbers of CFU obtained from maternal peripheral blood may contribute to the development of preeclampsia.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.676-685
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• 2001

Background : Angiogenesis is an essential component of tumor growth and metastasis, and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is one of the most important angiogenic factors. Several solid tumors produce substantial amounts of VEGF, which stimulates proliferation and the migration of endothelial cells, thereby inducing neovasculization by a paracrine mechanism. To evaluate the prognostic roles of angiogenesis and VEGF expression in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, the relationship between VEGF expression in tumor tissues, the clinicopathologic features and the overall survival rate were analysed. Methods : Sixty-nine resected primary non-small cell lung cancer specimens were evaluated. The paraffin-embedded tumor tissues were stained by anti-VEGF polyclonal antibodies using an immunohistochemical method to assess VEGF expression. Results : In Forty-one patients (59%), the VEGF antigen was expressed weakly in their tumor tissue, whereas in twenty-eight patients (41%) the VEGF antigen was expressed strongly. The median survival time of the weak VEGF expression group was 24 months, and that of the strong VEGF expression group was 19 months. The three year-survival rates were 35%, 33%, respectively. The survival difference between both groups was not statistically significant. Conclusion : Although results were not statistically significant, the strong expression group tended to poorer prognosis than the weak expression group.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.197-205
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• 2007

Angiogenesis is a essential part for bone formation and bone fracture healing. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), one of the most important molecules among many angiogenic factors, is a specific mitogen for vascular endothelial cells. VEGF-mediated angiogenesis is required for bone formation and repair. However, the effect of VEGF on osteoblastic cells during osteogenesis is still controversial. In recent days, substantial progress have been made toward developing tissue-engineered alternatives to autologous bone grafting for maxillofacial bony defects. Periosteum has received considerable interest as a better source of adult stem cells. Periosteum has the advantage of easy harvest and contains various cell types and progenitor cells that are able to differentiate into a several mesenchymal lineages, including bone. Several studies have reported the bone formation potential of periosteal cells, however, the correlation between VEGF signaling and cultured human periosteal cell-derived osteogenesis has not been fully investigated yet. The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between VEGF signaling and cultured human periosteal-derived cells osteogenesis. Periosteal tissues of $5\;{\times}\;20\;mm$ were obtained from mandible during surgical extraction of lower impacted third molar from 3 patients. Periosteal-derived cells were introduced into the cell culture and were subcultured once they reached confluence. After passage 3, the periosteal-derived cells were further cultured for 42 days in an osteogenic inductive culture medium containing dexamethasone, ascorbic acid, and ${\beta}-glycerophosphate$. We evaluated the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, the expression of Runx2 and VEGF, alizarin red S staining, and the quantification of osteocalcin and VEGF secretion in the periosteal-derived cells. The ALP activity increased rapidly up to day 14, followed by decrease in activity to day 35. Runx2 was expressed strongly at day 7, followed by decreased expression at day 14, and its expression was not observed thereafter. Both VEGF 165 and VEGF 121 were expressed strongly at day 35 and 42 of culture, particularly during the later stages of differentiation. Alizarin red S-positive nodules were first observed on day 14 and then increased in number during the entire culture period. Osteocalcin and VEGF were first detected in the culture medium on day 14, and their levels increased thereafter in a time-dependent manner. These results suggest that VEGF secretion from cultured human periosteal-derived cells increases along with mineralization process of the extracellular matrix. The level of VEGF secretion from periosteal-derived cells might depend on the extent of osteoblastic differentiation.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.64 no.3
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• pp.200-205
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• 2008

Background: Tumor angiogenesis plays an important role in tumor growth, maintenance and metastatic potential. Tumor tissue produces many types of angiogenic growth factors. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) have both been implicated to have roles in tumor angiogenesis. In this study, the expression of tissue VEGF and bFGF from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients were analyzed. Methods: We retrospectively investigated 35 patients with a histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma of the lung, where the primary curative approach was surgery. An ELISA was employed to determine the expression of VEGF and bFGF in extracts prepared from 35 frozen tissue samples taken from the cancer patients. Results: VEGF and bFGF concentrations were significantly increased in lung cancer tissue as compared with control (non-cancerous) tissue. The VEGF concentration was significantly increased in T2 and T3 cancers as compared with T1 cancer. Expression of VEGF was increased in node-positive lung cancer tissue as compared with node-negative lung cancer tissue (p=0.06). VEGF and bFGF expression were not directly related to the stage of lung cancer and patient survival. Conclusion: Expression of VEGF and bFGF were increased in lung cancer tissue, and the expression of VEGF concentration in lung cancer tissue was more likely related with tumor size and the presence of a lymph node metastasis than the expression of bFGF. However, in this study, expression of both VEGF and bFGF in tissue were not associated with patient prognosis.