VEGF Gene Polymorphisms and Breast Cancer Risk in a Chinese Population

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death among females, accounting for 23% of the total cancer cases and 14% of the cancer deaths (Jemal et al., 2011). Breast cancer is now also the leading cause of cancer death among females in economically developing countries, a shift from the previous decade during which the most common cause of cancer death was cervical cancer (Jemal et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2013). The mechanism of breast carcinogenesis is still not fully understood. Breast cancer may result from multiple environmental, dietary, hereditary, racial and socioeconomic risk factors (Ronco et al., 2012a; Ronco et al., 2012b; Zhang et al., 2012; Zhou et al., 2012a; Zhou et al., 2012b; Shamsi et al., 2013; Sun et al., 2013). Angiogenesis is an important step in the development of cancer and is necessary for primary tumor growth, invasiveness, and metastasis (Ferrara et al., 2003). The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is one of