Vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-cad-herin) preserves the tightness of the mature vascular network as a component of endothelial adherens junctions. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) makes VE-cadherin dissociate from complexes with β-catenin, so that endothelial cells can loosely proliferate and migrate. We searched for relationships between VEGF and VE-cadherin levels in preoperative sera of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). We also compared VE-cadherin levels of control and preoperative CRC sera in relation to clinicopathological features.
Methods
We measured with an ELISA kit the serum levels of the proteins in preoperative samples from 125 CRC patients and in samples from 16 healthy volunteers.
Results
Serum VE-cadherin was about fourfold higher in CRC patients than in controls (P <0.00001), with similar results being found in subgroups with different clinicopathological features versus controls. VE-cadherin was not correlated with VEGF in the entire group of CRC patients nor in the subgroups of node-positive and node-negative patients, different grades of histological differentiation (G2 or G3), extent of tumor growth (pT1+pT2 or pT3+pT4), histopathological type (adenocarcinoma or mucinous carcinoma), sex, age, and tumor site (colon or rectum). However, the serum levels of VE-cadherin and VEGF in CRC patients, which were higher than the mean values of controls, tended towards a negative correlation in node-positive patients (P = 0.078, r = -0.279).
Conclusions
VEGF and VE-cadherin seem to be independent markers of angiogenesis in CRC with no significant correlation between their serum levels.
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