Background Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) is essential in tumour angiogenesis, and polymorphisms in the VEGFA gene have been associated with breast cancer (BC) prognosis in previously published studies.

Purpose To determine if VEGFA 2578 C >A polymorphism is associated with exitus in HER2 positive BC patients treated with trastuzumab.

Material and methods HER2 positive BC patients, aged ≥18 years with a follow-up period >12 months were included. The duration of the study was from the diagnosis of BC to the time of the patient’s death or the last follow-up.

Clinical and histopathological data were collected from the electronic history: exitus date, age, nulliparity, family history of BC, lymph node involvement, oestrogen and progesterone receptor expression, Ki67 antigen, p53 oncogene, stage of the disease, tumour size, grade and histological type, and prescribed treatments.

Samples were provided by the local hospital biobank. DNA was extracted using the QIAamp DNA Mini Kit (Qiagen GmBH, Hilden, Germany) according to the manufacturer’s instructions from normal paraffin embedded tissue. Gene polymorphism VEGFA 2578 C >A was analysed by real time PCR using TaqMan probes.

Results 80 patients were included. 28 patients (28/80; 35.0%) died during the study. Neither clinical nor histopathological factors were associated with exitus. Allelic distribution of the patients was: genotype AA (15/80; 18.75%), AC (37/80; 46.25%) and CC (28/80; 35.0%). Patients carrying the C allele (AC+CC) lived less years than patients with genotype AA.

Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that VEGFA 2578 C >A AC genotype was a statistically significant factor associated with exitus in HER2 positive patients (OR 0.169, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.67; p = 0.0137).

Conclusion The C allele of the polymorphism VEGFA rs 2578 C >A was associated with exitus in HER2 positive BC patients treated with trastuzumab.

No conflict of interest.