Pathobiological significance of vascular endothelial growth factor and Maspin expressions in human gastric carcinoma

Table 1 VEGF expression in NMNCE, ANCE and gastric carcinoma (n = 73)

Tissue origin	n	VEGF expression		Positive rate (%)
		-	+
NMNCE	73	73	0	-
ANCE	73	23	50	68.5b
Gastric carcinoma	73	14	59	80.81

^bP = 0.000 vs NMNCE (Yates corrected: χ² = 73.03),

¹P = 0.086 vs ANCE (Yates corrected: χ² = 2.93).

Table 2 Relationship between VEGF expression and gross and histological types of gastric carcinoma (n = 73)

Type	n	VEGF expression		Positive rate (%)
		-	+
Gross types
EGCa	24	8	16	66.7
I	4	0	4	100.0
II	12	6	6	50.0
III	7	2	5	71.4
SS1	1	0	1	100.0
AGC	49	6	43	87.8
Bor. 0	3	0	3	100.0
Bor. I	1	0	1	100.0
Bor. II	6	0	6	100.0
Bor. III	36	5	31	86.1
Bor. IV	3	1	2	66.7
Histological type
Papillary adenocarcinoma	8	1	7	87.5
Well-differentiated adenocarcinoma	3	2	1	33.3
Moderately-differentiated adenocarcinoma	11	3	8	72.7
Poorly-differentiated adenocarcinoma	30	5	25	83.3
Undifferentiated carcinoma	3	1	2	66.7
Signet-ring cell carcinoma	10	1	9	90.0
Mucinous adenocarcinoma	7	0	7	100.0
Carcinoid	1	1	0	-

^aP = 0.032 vs AGC (χ² = 4.62), There was no correlation between the expression of VEGF and histology typing or gross typing (P > 0.05).

¹EGC SS (early gastric carcinomas of superficial spreading type).

Table 3 Relationship between VEGF expression and metastasis of gastric carcinoma (n = 73)

Metastasis status	n	VEGF expression		Positive rate (%)
		-	+
No metastasis	32	12	20	62.5b
Lymph node metastasis	39	4	35	89.7
Liver metastasis	1	1	0	0
Ovary metastasis	1	0	1	100.0

^bP = 0.006 vs lymph node metastasis (χ² = 7.47).

Table 4 VEGF and Maspin expressions in NMNCE, GNEIM and gastric carcinoma

Histological type	n	VEGF		+%	Maspin		+%
		+	-		+	-
NMNCE	39	0	39	0	16a	23	41.0
GNEIM	14	-	-	-	14	0	100.0
Gastric carcinoma
Papillary adenocarcinoma	3	3	0	100.0	2	1	66.7
Well-differentiated adenocarcinoma	3	2	1	66.7	2	1	66.7
Moderately-differentiated adenocarcinoma	6	5	1	83.3	2	4	33.3
Poorly-differentiated adenocarcinoma	21	14	7	66.7	11	10	52.4
Undifferentiated adenocarcinoma	3	2	1	66.7	1	2	33.3
Signet ring-cell carcinoma	3	2	1	66.7	2	1	66.7
Total of gastric carcinoma	39	28	11	71.8	20	19	51.3

Maspin was weakly expressed in gland cells of the stomach body, while it was not expressed in superficial epithelial cells and pyloric gland of the stomach.

Table 5 Relationship between VEGF and Maspin expressions in gastric carcinoma

Gastric carcinoma	Maspin +	Maspin -	Total
VEGF +	15	13	28
VEGF -	5	6	11
Total	20	19	39

There was no significant correlation between the expression of VEGF and Maspin in gastric carcinoma (P = 0.648, χ² = 0.21).