Affiliations: [a] Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Suzhou Dushuhu Hospital (Clinic Center, Soochow University), Suzhou, Jiangsu, China | [b] Department of Orthopedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Haitao Ma, Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China. Tel.: +86 18806133670; E-mail:haitaomasoochow@163.com
Note: [1] These authors contributed to the study equally.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The prognostic value of vascular endothelial growth factor C
(VEGF-C) in patients with esophageal cancer (EC) remains controversial. The
aim of this meta-analysis was to clarify the association of VEGF-C with
survival in EC patients. METHODS: We performed a meta-analysis that included eligible studies to
expound the effect of VEGF-C in EC survival. Eligible studies published
until November 2015 was identified using available databases. STATA 12.0 was
performed in this meta-analysis. RESULTS: We identified 13 studies, including 1203 patients, in this
meta-analysis. The combined hazard ratio of 1.70 (95% CI, 1.43-2.03, P <
0.001) shows that VEGF-C overexpression was significantly correlated with
poor overall survival in EC patients. Furthermore, the results suggested a
significant relationship between VEGF-C expression and overall survival was
also showed in studies with patient source, patient number ≥ 70,
methods detecting VEGF-C by reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) or ELISA and
histology type. Moreover, combined odds ratio of VEGF-C displayed that
VEGF-C overexpression was significantly association with stage, depth of
tumor invasion, lymph node status and metastasis of EC (P < 0.05). However,
it has no correlation with differentiation degree of EC (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: VEGF-C overexpression shows an unfavorable prognosis for EC
patients.
