Study of expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and histomorphological correlation in colorectal malignancies

Introduction: Colorectal cancer is the most common cancer of gastrointestinal tract. It is ranked fourth in causing cancer related deaths. Compared to western world, the incidence rates are low in India. The pathogenesis involved here is tumor induced angiogenesis which is the most important factor for tumor growth, invasion and metastasis. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is known to play a major role in angiogenesis. Aim: Is to study the expression of VEGF in colorectal malignancies and correlate the expression with histomorphological findings. Materials and Methods: Tissue samples from 30 patients with colorectal cancer of various stages, who had undergone resection during May 2016- February 2018, were taken for the study. Out of 30 cases, 27 were of Adenocarcinoma, 2 were Neuroendocrine tumors and 1 was Rectal Gastrointestinal stromal tumor. Scoring system was applied to assess the VEGF expression. Results: Patients with stage 1, well differentiated and grade 1 tumors had predominantly score 2 of VEGF expression; patients with stage 2, grade 2 and moderately differentiated tumors with mucinous component had predominantly score 3 of VEGF expression and patients with stage 3, grade 3 and poorly differentiated tumors had predominantly score 4 of VEGF expression. Thus VEGF expression was positively correlated with tumor grade, and TNM stage (p<0> Conclusion: Quantification of VEGF expression in colorectal cancers may give a reliable prognostic information, which could further help in selecting patients of high risk of disease progression for adjuvant therapy.