Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in melanocytic skin alterations

Abstract

Introduction. The study of growth factor expression allows further development of therapeutic modalities in the treatment of malignant diseases of the skin. This study aims to determine the relationship between the level of VEGF expression and morphological parameters (biological behavior of lesions, histological type, the defect on the surface, the density of inflammatory infiltrate, mitotic index, stage of growth and cell type) in melanocytic nevi and melanomas of the skin in different regions. Methods. The study included skin biopsy material of 73 patients, divided in two groups (group I-melanomas, group IInevi). The following parameters were determined: histological type, thickness of alteration (Breslow), Clark level, pTNM stage, the width of alteration, the density of lymphocytic infiltration of the tumor, mitotic index, stage of tumor growth, the presence of ulceration, tumor cell type, location and level of expression of VEGF. Results. Most of benign melanocytic alterations in the skin shows low expression levels of VEGF in 91.18% of cases. In the group of melanomas, a high level of expression was seen in 61.54 % of cases. Nodular and acral lentiginous type of melanoma more often showed a high level of expression of VEGF, while superficial spreading melanoma often showed a low level of VEGF expression. Conclusion. Benign melanocytic alterations have low, while malignant melanocytic alterations have high level of expression of VEGF.

Keywords

• vascular endothelial growth factor
• skin
• melanocytic alterations
• prognosis