Expression of Flt-1 and Flk-1 receptors for vascular endothelial growth factor on tumor cells as a new prognostic criterion for locally advanced breast cancer.

We studied expression of Flt-1 and Flk-1 receptors on tumor cells obtained from 83 patients with locally advanced breast cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The mean period of observations was 32.3 months. The median recurrence-free survival periods for Flt-1(+) and Flt-1(-) patients were 55 and 32 months, respectively (p=0.0064). The overall survival periods for Flt-1(-) and Flt-1(+) patients were 45 and 67.6 months, respectively (p=0.014). The mean recurrence-free survival periods for Flk-1(+) and Flk-1(-) patients were 40.8 and 60.9 months, respectively (p=0.035). Expression of VEGF had no prognostic value. Our results show that overexpression of Flk-1 on breast cancer cells in patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy is associated with a poor prognosis. By contrast, overexpression of Flt-1 improves survival.