title: Serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor and transforming growth factor-beta1 in patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing defibrillation therapy.
abstract: We have previously reported that pulsatile mechanical stretch in vitro induced rapid secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) by cultured cardiac myocytes and that the stretch-induced secretion of VEGF was mainly mediated by secretion of transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1 by cardiac myocytes in an autocrine fashion. To investigate whether tachycardia-induced mechanical overload increases serum levels of VEGF and TGF-beta1, we investigated the serum levels of VEGF and TGF-beta1 in patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing defibrillation therapy. The serum VEGF level before defibrillation was significantly increased in 13 out of 20 patients (89.48 +/- 16.09 pg/ml [mean +/- SE]). After defibrillation, the serum VEGF level in these 13 patients significantly (p = 0.019) decreased (65.04 +/- 16.61 pg/ml [mean +/- SE]), although it increased slightly in one patient. The serum TGF-beta1 level before defibrillation therapy (13.01 +/- 1.97 pg/ml [mean +/- SE]) in these 12 patients also decreased after defibrillation therapy (11.47 +/- 2.06 pg/ml [mean +/- SE]). The changes in serum VEGF level significantly correlated with those in the serum TGF-beta1 level in these 12 patients (r = 0.73, p < 0.05, n = 12). Our data suggest that tachyarrhythmia-induced mechanical overload can increase the serum VEGF level, which can be a useful clinical marker for relative myocardial oxygen shortage in such patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Seko
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ashida
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nagai
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000097:blood* / Q000628:therapy; D004554:Electric Countershock; D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008222:Lymphokines / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D013610:Tachycardia / Q000097:blood; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000097:blood*; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors
chemical_list: D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors; D008222:Lymphokines; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors