Expression of VEGF, CD73 and their relationship with clinical pathology, microvessel density, and prognosis in renal cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC), a tumor originating from renal tubular epithelial cells, has the second highest incidence of all adult urogenital tumors. However, in most cases, patients show no obvious symptoms in the early or even the late stages of RCC, which seriously impacts the prognosis. This study aimed to analyze the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and ecto-5'-nucleotidase (CD73) and their relationship with clinical pathology, microvessel density (MVD), and prognosis in RCC. METHODS: The clinical data of 76 patients with RCC who underwent radical nephrectomy in our hospital between October, 2011 and October, 2013 were retrospectively analyzed. The postoperative paraffin specimens were collected; the expression levels of VEGF and CD73 in the tumor tissues were detected, and the MVD was measured. T the expression of VEGF and CD73 and their relationship with clinical pathology, MVD, and prognosis in RCC. RESULTS: The positive expression rates of VEGF and CD73 in RCC patients with grades G3–G4 were higher than those in patients with grades G1–G2 (P<0.05). The rates in RCC patients with stages III~IV were higher than those in patients with stages I–II (P<0.05). The rates in RCC patients with lymph node metastasis were higher than those in patients without lymph node metastasis (P<0.05). The MVD count of patients with positive expressions of VEGF and CD73 was higher than that of patients with negative expressions (P<0.05). The expressions of VEGF and CD73 in RCC tissues were significantly positively correlated with MVD count (P<0.05). The five-year mortality rate of patients with positive expressions of VEGF and CD73 was higher than that of patients with negative expressions (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The expressions of VEGF and CD73 in RCC tissues can reflect the degree of tumor malignancy, invasion, and metastasis, and are closely related to the formation of microvessels in tumor tissues and the poor prognosis of patients.