Endocan-expressing microvessel density as a prognostic factor for survival in human gastric cancer

Table 1 Correlation between endocan-microvessel density and clinicopathological features and vascular endothelial growth factor/vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 expression in gastric cancer

Clinicopathologic feature	n	Endocan-MVD	P value1
Gender			0.27
Male	93	18.19 ± 8.240
Female	49	19.79 ± 8.203
Age (yr)			0.32
< 60	78	19.36 ± 8.436
≥ 60	64	18.00 ± 7.982
Tumour size (cm)			0.000a
< 5	79	16.48 ± 9.170
≥ 5	63	21.58 ± 5.799
Borrmann type			0.000a
I	18	11.33 ± 3.970
II	15	11.93 ± 4.651
III	81	21.17 ± 8.122
IV	28	20.14 ± 7.437
Histology			0.25
Adenocarcinoma	118	19.11 ± 8.183
Signet ring cell carcinoma	8	16.55 ± 2.554
Mixed carcinoma	15	17.13 ± 10.602
Differentiation			0.000a
High/moderate	36	11.66 ± 4.623
Low/undifferentiated	106	21.15 ± 7.803
Tumour invasion			0.000a
T1	2	6.33 ± 0.577
T2	30	10.30 ± 4.822
T3	4	16.33 ± 0.577
T4	106	21.56 ± 7.168
Lymph node metastasis			0.000a
N0	33	12.60 ± 7.314
N1	21	17.521 ± 5.662
N2	30	16.96 ± 7.420
N3	58	23.62 ± 7.053
TNM stage			0.000a
I	15	8.80 ± 3.764
II	18	11.38 ± 5.679
III	99	20.85 ± 7.331
IV	10	26.10 ± 2.960
VEGF expression			0.001a
Negative	58	16.32 ± 6.227
Positive	84	20.43 ± 9.015
VEGFR2 expression			0.000a
Negative	66	12.48 ± 5.239
Positive	76	24.19 ± 6.222

¹Student t-test;

^aP < 0.05, statistically significant. VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor; VEGFR2: VEGF receptor 2; MVD: Microvessel density.

Table 2 Correlation between endocan-microvessel density and vascular endothelial growth factor expression in gastric cancer (r = 0.167, P = 0.047), and between endocan-microvessel density and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 expression in gastric cancer (r = 0.410, P = 0.000)

Endocan-MVD1	Total	VEGF2				VEGFR22
		-	+	++	+++	-	+	++	+++
0	34	14	2	15	3	20	12	2	0
1	41	15	8	12	6	12	14	10	5
2	40	5	8	14	13	2	5	12	21
3	27	2	4	8	13	0	1	4	22
Total	142	36	22	49	35	34	32	28	48

¹Endocan-MVD was divided into four groups (0, 1, 2, and 3) based on quartiles of Endocan-MVD number, which were 12.51, 18.86 and 25.88, respectively;

²VEGF and VEGFR2 were divided as follows: (-), no cell stained; (+), < 25% of cells stained; (++), 25%-50% of cells stained; (+++), > 50% of cells stained. VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor; VEGFR2: VEGF receptor 2; MVD: Microvessel density.

Table 3 Univariate analysis of the correlation between clinicopathologic features and overall survival of 142 patients with gastric cancer

Clinicopathologic feature	n	5-yr survival rate (%)	P value1
Gender			0.280
Male	93	44.08
Female	49	38.77
Age (yr)			0.580
< 60	78	41.02
≥ 60	64	43.75
Tumour size (cm)			0.000a
< 5	79	62.02
≥ 5	63	17.46
Borrmann type			0.000a
I + II	33	78.78
III + IV	109	31.19
Histology			0.260
Adenocarcinoma	118	40.67
Others	23	52.17
Differentiation			0.000a
High/moderate	36	69.44
Low/undifferentiated	106	33.01
Tumour invasion			0.000a
T1-2	32	84.37
T3-4	110	30.00
Lymph node metastasis			0.003a
N0-1	54	57.40
N2-3	88	32.95
TNM stage			0.000a
I-II	33	84.84
III-IV	109	29.35
VEGF expression			0.003a
Negative	58	56.89
Positive	84	32.14
VEGFR2 expression			0.000a
Negative	66	68.18
Positive	76	19.73
Endocan-MVD			0.000a
Low	75	64.00
High	67	17.91

¹Log-rank test;

^aP < 0.05, statistically significant. VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor; VEGFR2: VEGF receptor 2; MVD: Microvessel density.

Table 4 Multivariate analysis of the correlation between clinicopathologic features and overall survival of 142 patients with gastric cancer

Factor	P value	HR	95%CI
Tumour size (cm)	0.247	1.407	0.789-2.508
Borrmann type	0.388	1.345	0.686-2.636
Differentiation	0.036a	3.52	1.087-11.394
Tumour invasion	0.681	1.465	0.237-9.066
Lymph node metastasis	0.75	1.119	0.560-2.235
TNM stage	0.000a	4.189	1.450-12.102
VEGF expression	0.001a	2.827	1.508-5.302
VEGFR2 expression	0.020a	3.572	1.218-10.474
High endocan-MVD	0.047a	2.111	1.008-4.419

^aP < 0.05, statistically significant. VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor; VEGFR2: VEGF receptor 2; MVD: Microvessel density.