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• Malignant pleural effusion

VEGF and malignant pleural effusion in lung cancer

VEGF expression in pleural effusion, oncologic vs nononcologic

VEGF expression in patients with malignant (lung adenocarcinoma) and nonmalignant (congestive heart failure—related) pleural effusion, as detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The difference between the mean values for the lung adenocarcinoma group and the congestive heart failure group was statistically significant (P<0.0001, Mann–Whitney test).¹⁴

Adapted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Oncogene. 2006;25:4300-4309. © 2006.

The role of VEGF in malignant pleural effusion

Patients with lung cancer who develop malignant pleural effusion have shorter survival compared with patients without effusion. In an effort to determine the pathogenesis of malignant pleural effusion in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), Yeh and colleagues performed both preclinical and clinical studies. Their preclinical work, which included both tumor cell line and animal model experiments, examined the pathogenesis of malignant pleural effusion. One protein they showed to be involved in this pathogenic process is Stat3. In a tumor cell line study, the investigators also found that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) overexpression was correlated with expression of Stat3.¹⁴

The investigators' clinical studies included a comparison between patients with malignant pleural effusion caused by NSCLC (n=23) and patients with nonmalignant pleural effusion—that is, pleural effusion caused by congestive heart failure (n=12). In this comparison, VEGF levels were significantly higher in patients with lung cancer—related pleural effusion than in patients with nonmalignant pleural effusion (P<0.0001).¹⁴

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