Investigators publish new data in the report “Expression of IP-10 related to angiogenesis in uterine cervical cancers. Angiogenesis is essential for development, growth and advancement of solid tumours. Interferon-gamma-inducible protein 10 (IP-10) regulates lymphocyte chemotaxis, mediates vascular pericyte proliferation and acts as an angiostatic agent, thus inhibiting tumor growth,” investigators in Japan report.
“This prompted us to study the clinical implications of IP-10 expression related to angiogenesis in uterine cervical cancers. The levels of IP-10 decreased with advancement, and the prognosis of the 30 patients with low IP-10 expression in uterine cervical cancers was poor (66%), whereas the 24-month survival rate of the other patients with high IP-10 expression was 90%. Furthermore, IP-10 levels significantly reverse-correlated with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in uterine cervical cancers. Interferon-gamma-inducible protein 10 might work on suppression of angiogenesis associated with VEGF in advancement, and can be recognised as a prognostic indicator,” wrote E. Sato and colleagues, Gifu University.

The researchers concluded: “Furthermore, IP-10 activation might be effective on the suppression of regrowth or recurrence after intensive treatment for advanced cervical cancers.”

Sato and colleagues published their study in British Journal of Cancer (Expression of IP-10 related to angiogenesis in uterine cervical cancers. British Journal of Cancer, 2007;96(11):1735-9).

For additional information, contact E. Sato, Gifu University School of Medicine, Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu City 501-1194, Japan.

The publisher of the British Journal of Cancer can be contacted at: Nature Publishing Group, Macmillan Building, 4 Crinan St., London N1 9XW, England.