Conclusion
This study reveals that SVEP1 is a promising prognostic biomarker for ICC and provides fresh insight into the role and potential new mechanism of abnormal neovascularization in ICC progression.
Results
Our study showed that the expression of SVEP1 in most ICC samples was relatively lower than in the adjacent tissues. Statistical analysis suggested that patients with decreased SVEP1 expression always had shorter overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Moreover, the expression of SVEP1 was negatively correlated with the proportion of abnormal neovascularization in the tumor microenvironment of the ICC. Consistently, the key molecule of promoting vascular normalization, Ang-1, is positively correlated with the SVEP1 expression and prognosis in the ICC. In addition, the proportion of high Ki-67 expression was higher in the ICC samples with low SVEP1 expression, suggesting that the SVEP1 low expressed sample is in a malignant phenotype with high proliferation.