Upregulation of vascular endothelial growth factor mRNA level is significantly related to progression and prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinomas

Background/purpose: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent angiogenic factor. This study evaluated whether the VEGF mRNA level in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) tissue could be a biomarker to predict the progression and prognosis of OSCCs in Taiwan. ;Methods: This study used quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (quantitative RT-PCR) to detect the VEGF mRNA levels in 60 OSCC specimens. Threshold cycle (C-T) was defined as the PCR cycle number needed to generate a predetermined amount of DNA (threshold). The relative amount of tissue VEGF mRNA, standardized against the amount of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) mRNA, was expressed as Delta C-T = (VEGF C-T GAPDH C-T). For a chosen threshold, a smaller starting copy number of mRNA results in a higher C-T value. Thus, the lower the Delta C-T, the greater the copy number of VEGF mRNA in tissues. ;Results: The lower mean VEGF mRNA Delta C-T value was significantly associated with OSCCs with larger tumor size (p = 0.040), positive lymph node metastasis (p = 0.023), and more advanced clinical stages (p = 0.008). VEGF mRNA Delta C-T value < 4.2 (p = 0.026) was identified as an independent unfavorable prognosis factor using multivariate regression analyses. Moreover, Kaplan-Meier curve showed that OSCC patients with a VEGF mRNA Delta C-T value <4.2 had a significantly poorer overall survival than those with a VEGF mRNA Delta C-T value >= 4.2 (log-rank test, p = 0.0427). ;Conclusion: The OSCC tissue VEGF mRNA level can be used to predict the progression and prognosis of OSCCs in Taiwan. Copyright (C) 2015, Elsevier Taiwan LLC & Formosan Medical Association. All rights reserved