

Jacobsen et al examined vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in 229 tumor samples from patients who underwent nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) at various disease stages. The investigators reported correlation between VEGF expression and tumor size and tumor stage, but more notably, they reported significantly decreased survival for patients whose tumors overexpressed VEGF, as measured by tissue microarray (P=0.011).8
In 74 RCC samples, Paradis et al demonstrated that VEGF overexpression was significantly correlated with decreased survival.17 Furthermore, Yildiz et al investigated the relationship between clinical outcomes and both microvessel invasion and VEGF expression in 48 RCC tumor samples. This group demonstrated a statistically significant correlation between microvessel invasion and death due to RCC (P<0.001). The investigators also observed that VEGF expression levels were significant negative predictors of survival in RCC (P<0.001).9