Our results demonstrated that the positive rate of VEGF expression in BCs was 53.85% and the positive expression levels were higher in the lymph node metastasis group compared to the non-metastatic group; however, there were no statistically significant differences with age, tumor size, lymph node metastasis and histological grade, a finding consistent with those of Jobim et al (21). Here, VEGFA is linked to metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.