Angiogenic factors in laryngeal carcinomas: do they have prognostic relevance?

Angiogenesis is a cascade-like mechanism essential for tumour growth and metastasis. Recently developed inhibitors of angiogenesis have already proven their benefit in anticancer treatment. Therefore the existence of angiogenic molecules in individual tumours is of major interest. The factors most frequently contributing to angiogenesis are basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and some matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). In order to evaluate the prognostic significance of these molecules we investigated the distribution pattern of VEGF, bFGF, MMP-2 and MMP-9 in 41 laryngeal carcinomas using immunohistochemical methods. The results were correlated with clinicopathological parameters, i.e. T and N stage, histological grading, freedom from disease, overall survival and microvessel density (MVD). Only VEGF revealed a correlation with MVD (p = 0.01) and a weak association with histological grading (p = 0.06). Even though there is controversy about published data on the prognostic relevance of angiogenic factors, our results suggest that the factors examined in this study are not suitable for prognosis in larynx cancer patients.