Vascular permeability factor expression in cerebellar hemangioblastomas: correlation with tumor-associated cysts.

The presence of vascular endothelial growth/permeability factor (VEG/PF) has been studied in histological specimens from a series of 16 cerebellar hemangioblastomas. In this series, the tumors were classified as presenting a macroscopic solid pattern (4 cases), a mainly solid pattern with macroscopic cysts (4 cases) or a mainly cystic pattern (8 cases). Solid tumors showed a low degree (75% of cases) or moderate degree (25% of cases) of VEG/PF positivity. The mainly solid tumors containing macroscopic cysts showed a moderate degree (50% of cases) or high degree (50% of cases) of VEG/PF positivity. Nevertheless, mainly cystic hemangioblastomas showed a high degree (87.5% of cases) or moderate degree (12.5% of cases) of VEG/PF positivity. These findings suggest that the predominance of a cystic or solid macroscopic appearance of cerebellar hemangioblastomas may be influenced by the degree of VEG/PF expression within the tumor tissue.