Vascular endothelial growth factor-A is an Immunohistochemical biomarker for the efficacy of bevacizumab-containing chemotherapy for duodenal and jejunal adenocarcinoma

• Main Authors: Takahiro Amano, Hideki Iijima, Shinichiro Shinzaki, Taku Tashiro, Shuko Iwatani, Mizuki Tani, Yuriko Otake, Takeo Yoshihara, Aya Sugimoto, Satoshi Egawa, Shinjiro Yamaguchi, Kazuo Kinoshita, Manabu Araki, Motohiro Hirao, Yuko Sakakibara, Satoshi Hiyama, Hiroyuki Ogawa, Koji Nagaike, Jun Murata, Masato Komori, Yorihide Okuda, Takashi Kizu, Yoshiki Tsujii, Yoshito Hayashi, Takahiro Inoue, Hidekazu Takahashi, Tsunekazu Mizushima, Eiichi Morii, Tetsuo Takehara
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2021-08-01
• Series: BMC Cancer
• Subjects: Small bowel adenocarcinoma; Duodenal and jejunal adenocarcinoma; VEGF-A; Immunohistochemical expressions; Bevacizumab
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-021-08724-5

Abstract Background The efficacy and safety of bevacizumab-containing chemotherapy for patients with metastatic duodenal and jejunal adenocarcinoma (mDJA) are unclear. The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of bevacizumab and to explore immunohistochemical markers that can predict the efficacy of bevacizumab for patients with mDJA. Methods This multicentre study included patients with histologically confirmed small bowel adenocarcinoma who received palliative chemotherapy from 2008 to 2017 at 15 hospitals. Immunostaining was performed for vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A), TP53, Ki67, β-catenin, CD10, MUC2, MUC5AC, MUC6, and mismatch repair proteins. Results A total of 74 patients were enrolled, including 65 patients with mDJA and 9 with metastatic ileal adenocarcinoma. Patients with mDJA who received platinum-based chemotherapy with bevacizumab as first-line treatment tended to have a longer progression-free survival and overall survival than those treated without bevacizumab (P = 0.075 and 0.077, respectively). Multivariate analysis extracted high VEGF-A expression as a factor prolonging progression-free survival (hazard ratio: 0.52, 95% confidence interval: 0.30–0.91). In mDJA patients with high VEGF-A expression, those who received platinum-based chemotherapy with bevacizumab as a first-line treatment had significantly longer progression-free survival and tended to have longer overall survival than those treated without bevacizumab (P = 0.025 and P = 0.056, respectively), whereas no differences were observed in mDJA patients with low VEGF-A expression. Conclusion Immunohistochemical expression of VEGF-A is a potentially useful biomarker for predicting the efficacy of bevacizumab-containing chemotherapy for patients with mDJA.