Objective: To investigate the correlation between epidermal growth factor (EGF) and overexpression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Methods: Expressions of EGF, VEGF and microvessel density were studied through immunohistochemical SABC method in 36 HCC specimens, their paraneoplastic liver tissues and 6 normal liver tissues with the correlation between these parameters analyzed. Recombinant human EGF was used to stimulate HepG(2) cells and semi-quantitative reverse transcription PCR was adopted to detect the expression of VEGF in HepG(2) cells.
Results: The positive rates of EGF and VEGF expression in HCC tissue were 75.0% and 88.9%. There was positive correlation between EGF and VEGF expression (P < 0.01, r = 0.462). Recombinant human EGF could induce the expression of VEGF in HepG(2) cells in a dose and time dependent manner.
Conclusion: The expression of EGF in HCC underlies the overexpression of VEGF in HCC.