| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The prediction of response to treatment would be valuable for managing cervical carcinoma with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To this end, the expression of VEGF was analyzed by immunohistochemistry using paraffin-embedded pre-treatment cervical biopsy tissues. This study included 29 patients with bulky IB to IIA cervical squamous cell carcinoma treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Fifteen (51.7%) of 29 patients were scored as VEGF-positive. Response to chemotherapy (complete response or residual tumor with less than 3 mm stromal invasion) was observed in eight patients (27.6%), and it was negatively associated with VEGF expression (<it>P </it>= 0.009). With logistic regression analysis, VEGF positivity continued to be an independent predictor for poor response (<it>P </it>= 0.032). In addition, the progression-free survival rate was significantly lower in patients with VEGF-positive tumors (<it>P </it>= 0.033).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Pretreatment assessment of VEGF expression may provide additional information for identification of patients with cervical cancer who had a low likelihood of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and an unfavorable prognosis.</p>
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