TY - JOUR AB - Metastasis is the main cause of poor prognosis of patients with gastric cancer (GC). Thus, current research is focused on identifying biomarkers that can predict the prognosis of patients with GC. C‑X‑C motif chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) have been reported to play important roles in different types of malignancies; however, their role in the prognosis of GC remains unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the potential role of CXCR4 and VEGF in predicting the prognosis of patients with GC. Immunohistochemistry analysis was performed to analyze the expression levels of CXCR4 and VEGF in a GC tissue microarray containing GC tissues and adjacent normal tissues. The association between CXCR4 or VEGF expression levels and the clinicopathological characteristics or survival outcomes were assessed. Furthermore, Transwell and wound healing assays were performed to determine the cell invasive and migratory abilities in vitro. The results demonstrated that CXCR4 promoted AGS cell invasion and migration by regulating VEGF expression. In addition, CXCR4 and VEGF expression levels were significantly upregulated in GC tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues, which was associated with a poorer overall survival (OS). Cox regression analysis demonstrated that both upregulated CXCR4 and VEGF expression were independent negative biomarkers of OS. To the best of our knowledge, the present study was the first to discover that CXCR4 and VEGF exert synergistic roles as efficient prognostic indicators for patients with GC. AD - Department of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Jiangsu, Nanjing 210023, P.R. China nstitute of Combining Chinese Traditional and Western Medicine, Medical College, Yangzhou University, Jiangsu, Yangzhou 225001, P.R. China Institute of Combining Chinese Traditional and Western Medicine, Medical College, Yangzhou University, Jiangsu, Yangzhou 225001, P.R. China AU - Chen,Gaoyang AU - Zhou,Zhen AU - Jin,Jun AU - Zhou,Yan AU - Liu,Yanqing AU - Wang,Weimin DA - 2021/08/01 DO - 10.3892/ol.2021.12848 IS - 2 JO - Oncol Lett KW - C‑X‑C motif chemokine receptor 4 vascular endothelial growth factor gastric cancer prognosis migration invasion PY - 2021 SN - 1792-1074 1792-1082 SP - 587 ST - CXCR4 is a prognostic marker that inhibits the invasion and migration of gastric cancer by regulating VEGF expression T2 - Oncology Letters TI - CXCR4 is a prognostic marker that inhibits the invasion and migration of gastric cancer by regulating VEGF expression UR - https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2021.12848 VL - 22 ER -