Prognostic significance of VEGF expression in patients with bulky cervical carcinoma undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy

BACKGROUND: The prediction of response to treatment would be valuable for managing cervical carcinoma with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. METHODS: To this end, the expression of VEGF was analyzed by immunohistochemistry using paraffin-embedded pre-treatment cervical biopsy tissues. This study included 29 patients with bulky IB to IIA cervical squamous cell carcinoma treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. RESULTS: Fifteen (51.7%) of 29 patients were scored as VEGF-positive. Response to chemotherapy (complete response or residual tumor with less than 3 mm stromal invasion) was observed in eight patients (27.6%), and it was negatively associated with VEGF expression (P = 0.009). With logistic regression analysis, VEGF positivity continued to be an independent predictor for poor response (P = 0.032). In addition, the progression-free survival rate was significantly lower in patients with VEGF-positive tumors (P = 0.033). CONCLUSION: Pretreatment assessment of VEGF expression may provide additional information for identification of patients with cervical cancer who had a low likelihood of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and an unfavorable prognosis.