Evidence for angiogenesis-independent contribution of VEGFR1 (FLT1) in gastric cancer recurrence

Angiogenesis plays an important role in cancer progression and involves activation of multiple signaling cascades. This study investigated the relationships between microvessel density, expression of VEGF and VEGFR1 (FLT1), and gastric cancer (GC) recurrence. Twenty-nine surgically treated GC cases with similar initial clinical presentation were selected for the study; 11 of these cases recurred within 3 years, while the remaining 18 did not. Microvessel density correlated with VEGF mRNA content, but neither of these parameters was associated with the disease outcome. When tumors were ranked according to the level of expression of angiogenic molecules, 9 out of 10 cases with the highest VEGFR1 expression belonged to the recurrence group, while none of the 10 GC with the lowest content of VEGFR1 mRNA had the disease relapse (p = 0.000). VEGFR1 expression did not show even a trend to correlation with the level of cancer tissue vascularization. Immunofluorescent staining by anti-VEGFR1 antibody revealed VEGFR1 expression in tumor cells but not in other cell types. Our data provide indirect support to the evidence for a non-angiogenic contribution of VEGFR1 in cancer pathogenesis.