T., Tullavardhana P., Akranurakkul W., Ungkitphaiboon D., Songtish Supplementary Material for: Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-C Expression as a Biomarker of Poor Prognosis in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Meta-Analysis <b><i>Background:</i></b> Vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) is involved in the development and progression of tumor angio-/lymphangiogenesis. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether VEGF-C expression is an indicator of aggressiveness and poor prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). <b><i>Method:</i></b> A meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the association between VEGF-C expression with clinicopathological characteristics and survival of ESCC patients. The dataset was defined by searching PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar, and the Cochrane database for appropriate articles published until April 2014. <b><i>Result:</i></b> The final analysis was made from 9 studies, including 656 ESCC patients. Positive VEGF-C expression was defined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) or mRNA expression analysis. The results demonstrated that VEGF-C expression was significantly associated with advanced-stage disease (odds ratio (OR) = 2.29, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.37-3.84, P = 0.002), deeper tumor invasion, lymph node metastasis, and lymphatic invasion. The 5-year survival of VEGF-C expression-negative patients was found to be better than that of VEGF-C expression-positive patients (OR = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.21-0.58, P < 0.0001). However, there was no significant association between the VEGF-C expression levels and either poorer tumor differentiation or vascular invasion. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> The results of the meta-analysis strongly indicate that VEGF-C expression could function as a marker for predicting the aggressiveness and prognosis of ESCC. Vascular endothelial growth factor C;Esophageal cancer;Biomarker;Meta-analysis 2015-02-25
    https://karger.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Supplementary_Material_for_Vascular_Endothelial_Growth_Factor-C_Expression_as_a_Biomarker_of_Poor_Prognosis_in_Esophageal_Squamous_Cell_Carcinoma_A_Meta-Analysis/5127754
10.6084/m9.figshare.5127754.v1