Abstract: Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation of serumvascular endothelial growth factor-C (sVEGF-C) and carcinoembryonic antigen(CEA) levels to prognosis in patients with gallbladder cancer. Methods 93 patients with gallbladder cancer were included in this study between February 2011 and January 2018, and serum sVEGF-C levels were detected by double antibody-sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and serum CEA levels were detected by radioimmunoassay. The correlation of serum sVEGF-C and CEA levels to the prognosis of patients with gallbladder cancer was analyzed. Results Serum sVEGF-C and CEA levels were significantly different in gallbladder cancer patients with different tumor infiltration (Tstage), lymphatic metastasis (N stage), distant metastasis (M stage) and clinopathological stage (P<0.05); during 22 month follow-up period, 45 survived (48.4%) and 48 died (51.6%); serum sVEGF-C level in the dead group was (84.9±20.7) pg/mL, significantly higher than [(56.4±18.9) pg/mL,P<0.05], and serum CEA level was (138.7±49.6) μg/L, significantly higher than [(76.8±27.4) μg/L,P<0.05] in the survival group; multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that clinopathological stage (OR=6.658, 95% CI=1.800-24.632), serum sVEGF-C (OR=4.005,95% CI=1.292-12.415) and CEA (OR=3.170, 95% CI=1.482-6.849) were the independent risk factors affecting the prognosis of patients with gallbladder cancer (P<0.05). Conclusion Serum sVEGF-C and CEA levels increase greatly in patients with gallbladder cancer, which might impact the poor prognosis and warrants further investigation.

Key words: Gallbladder cancer, Vascular endothelial growth factor-C, Carcinoembryonic antigen, Prognosis