Growth factor levels high among minority women with breast cancer.(vascular endothelial growth factor)(Brief Article)

2002 APR 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - One of the first studies to look at angiogenesis in relation to breast cancer progression in minority females has determined a significant correlation exists between tumor vascularity and survival in those women.

Doctors at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, located at the University of California - Los Angeles, have reported in the March 2002 edition of International Journal of Oncology that plasma levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a modulator of tumor neovascularization, can predict survival in African American and non-white Hispanic women.

Even though the incidence of breast cancer is higher among white women, the breast cancer-associated death rate is higher among African-American females. Despite efforts to decrease breast cancer-related mortality among minority populations, death rates continue to rise. New and better ways to predict survival and recurrence after surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy would enable doctors to enlist the use of more aggressive therapies for at-risk patients.

A total of 125 women who had undergone tumor removal followed by adjuvant therapy participated in the study, receiving tests for plasma levels of VEGF that were compared with those of 20 women without cancer. Y. Wu and coauthors also examined several other factors among the patient group, including overall survival, tumor characteristics, and hormone receptor status.

"Our results confirmed that plasma VEGF levels were significantly higher in breast cancer patients than normal subjects," Wu and coauthors said.

Larger tumor size and later stage disease were significantly associated with higher plasma levels among the cancer patients.

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