The role of vascular endothelial growth factor as a prognostic and clinicopathological marker in osteosarcoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: In recent years, numerous investigations have been conducted to determine the clinical significance and critical functions of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in various malignant cancers. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to comprehensively evaluate the prognostic and clinicopathological value of VEGF in patients with osteosarcoma. METHODS: We performed a systematic literature retrieval of available databases. Odds ratios (ORs) or standard mean difference (SMD) for clinicopathological parameters, hazard ratios (HRs) for overall survival and disease-free survival were calculated to assess the correlation between VEGF expression and prognosis in patients with osteosarcoma. RESULTS: A total of 22 studies with 1144 patients were included in our study. Pooled analyses showed that VEGF overexpression predicted worse overall survival (HR, 2.42; 95% CI, 1.87–3.11, p < 0.001) and disease-free survival (HR, 2.604; 95% CI, 1.698–3.995, p < 0.001), respectively. Furthermore, investigation regarding osteosarcoma clinicopathologic characteristics suggested that high VEGF expression was significantly associated with metastasis (OR, 4.39; 95% CI, 2.77–6.95; p < 0.001), clinical stage (OR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.62–0.87; p < 0.001), and microvessel density (SMD, 3.33, 95% CI,1.57–5.10, p < 0.001), but not associated with tumor location, gender, age, local recurrence, and chemotherapy response. CONCLUSION: Our meta-analysis findings suggest that elevated VEGF expression may be a predictive biomarker for poor prognosis and adverse clinicopathological characteristics in patients with osteosarcoma.