Associations between hepatocyte growth factor, c-Met, and basic fibroblast growth factor and survival in endometrial cancer patients
British Journal of Cancer, 05/25/2012

Felix AS et al. – These IHC data show that tumour and stromal bFGF expression have opposite associations with survival outcomes in EC patients. If confirmed in larger studies, tumour-derived bFGF could be an attractive target in EC therapy.

• Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to detect tumour and stromal protein expression of the biomarkers.
• Associations between expression and clinicopathological factors were assessed using Chi-square tests.
• Kaplan–Meier curves, log-rank tests, and Cox regression were used to summarise associations between biomarker expression and overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS).

• Tumour bFGF was significantly associated with high-grade endometrioid and clear cell histology (P<0.001), advanced stage (P=0.008), positive lymph-node involvement (P=0.002), poor OS (log-rank test, P=0.009), and poor RFS (P<0.001).
• In multivariable analyses, cases with HGF-positive, stromal bFGF-positive tumours had a lower risk of death compared with cases with HGF-positive, stromal bFGF-negative tumours (hazard ratio (HR): 0.14, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.60).
• Cases with HGF-positive, bFGF-positive tumours had a higher risk of recurrence compared with cases with negative expression of both markers (HR: 9.88, 95% CI: 2.63, 37.16).