Prognostic value and association of Lauren classification with VEGF and VEGFR-2 expression in gastric cancer

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common malignant tumors in the world. As anti-angiogenic therapy shows efficacy in the treatment of GC, but only works in certain patients, the identification of potential beneficiaries are urgently required in order to apply appropriate treatments. The Lauren classification demonstrates numerous differences in etiology, epidemiology and pathology; however, the association between Lauren classification and pro-angiogenic factors remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the clinicopathological factors associated with Lauren classification and the prognostic significance of Lauren classification and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and VEGF receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) expression in GC. Paraffin-embedded GC tissues and clinical information of 255 patients with GC were collected. The clinicopathological factors associated with Lauren classification were evaluated by Logistic regression analysis. Kaplan-Meier survival and Cox regression analyses were used to examine the prognostic significance of Lauren classification and of VEGF and VEGFR-2 expression in patients with GC. The results demonstrated that there was no association between Lauren classification and VEGF and VEGFR-2 expression. Furthermore, results from survival analysis demonstrated that Lauren classification (P=0.001) and Tumor-Node-Metastasis stage (stage II, P=0.002; stage III, P<0.001) were independent prognostic factors in GC. Following subgroup analysis based on Tumor-Node-Metastasis stage, Lauren classification was demonstrated to be an independent prognostic factor in patients with stage III GC (P=0.010) but not in patients with stage I or II GC. Furthermore, VEGFR-2 overexpression was an independent predictor of survival in intestinal-type GC (P=0.040) but not in diffuse-type GC. Taken together, these results indicate that Lauren classification may serve as an independent prognostic factor for patients with GC. In addition, although the expression of VEGF and VEGFR-2 was not associated with Lauren classification, VEGFR-2 overexpression may be considered as an independent prognostic factor in intestinal-type GC.