When the patient cohort was stratified according to VEGF expression in the tumor cells, the 5-year survival rate of the NPC patients with VEGF over-expression was 40.1% (n = 86), which was significantly lower than that of NPC patients with VEGF low-expression (67.8%, n = 102, P = 0.0028; Figure 5A). This evidence concerns the gene VEGFA and nasopharyngeal carcinoma.