Circulating vascular endothelial growth factor six months after primary surgery as a prognostic marker in patients with colorectal cancer

High preoperative circulating vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is predictive of poor prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). However, postoperative circulating VEGF has not yet been evaluated as a prognostic marker in CRC patients. In 318 consecutive patients who had undergone curative resection of primary CRC, the prognostic value of VEGF concentrations in plasma and serum obtained 6 months postoperatively was analysed and the results compared with the prognostic value of postoperative carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) concentrations in matched serum samples. In univariate analyses, high serum and plasma VEGF ( > 533 pg/ml and > 112 pg/ml, respectively) had no significant (p = 0.17 and p = 0.13, respectively) impact on overall survival. On the contrary, high serum CEA ( > 5 ng/ ml) was significantly (p < 0.0001) correlated to a poor prognosis. Finally, in multivariate analyses, the combination of high serum CEA and high serum VEGF was significantly (hazard ratio 3.0, p = 0.02) associated with poor survival compared to high serum CEA and low serum VEGF. It is concluded that 6 months postoperatively serum CEA is a better prognostic marker than corresponding serum and plasma VEGF. However, high serum VEGF within high serum CEA was an even better predictor of overall survival than high serum CEA alone.