Abnormalities of the Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway induce tumour progression in sporadic desmoid tumours: correlation between β-catenin widespread nuclear expression and VEGF overexpression

Aims: To analyse the correlation between beta-catenin and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in sporadic desmoid tumours. Methods and results: The correlation between beta-catenin aberrant expression and VEGF overexpression was examined and microvessel density (MVD) assessed by immunohistochemical expression of CD31 in 74 samples (63 primary and 11 recurrent samples, 63 patients) of sporadic desmoid tumours without familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). beta-catenin gene mutation and mRNA expression of VEGF was then examined by quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). There was a statistically significant correlation between widespread nuclear expression of beta-catenin and overexpression of VEGF in all desmoid tumours (P = 0.04, Fisher's exact test). MVD in recurrent tumours was significantly higher than that in primary tumours. Conclusions: Abnormalities of beta-catenin and VEGF overexpression play an important role in the neoplastic progression of sporadic desmoid tumours.