1100 - Gene Expression of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Is Associated with the Biological Behaviour of Giant Cell Tumor of Bone

INTRODUCTION Vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF) are members of a family of polypeptides encoded by a single gene containing eight exons and seven introns. Alternative splicing of exons 6 and 7 results in the production of four isoforms of the VEGF peptide. All four isoforms have the ability to increase vascularisation. The production of vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF) is a major cause of neoangiogenesis, a pre-requisite for tumor growth and invasion. VEGF have also been shown to be essential for the formation of osteoclasts. Because GCT are often vascularised and are also able to recruit both macrophages and osteoclast-like giant cells, we postulated that if the expression of VEGF was associated with the histogenesis of the neoplasm, the level of VEGF expression may be linked to its biological aggressiveness