High level of vascular endothelial growth factor in hemorrhagic pleural effusion of cancer.
Angiogenic cytokines, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and angiogenin, are candidates for the induction of pleural effusions because they have been implicated in the induction of neovascularization, vascular permeability, and hemorrhage both in the inflammatory process and in tumor progression. Thus, we hypothesized that these angiogenic factors in effusion might be involved in the clinical manifestation of malignant pleural disease. We measured the levels of VEGF, bFGF, and angiogenin in pleural effusions and sera from 40 patients. Pleural effusions due to malignancy (1,350 pg/ml) contained significantly higher levels of VEGF than effusions due to inflammatory diseases (102 pg/ml; p = 0.034). Furthermore, hemorrhagic effusions showed significantly higher VEGF levels (1,942 pg/ml) than non-hemorrhagic effusions (202 pg/ml; p = 0.016) in malignant patients. In contrast, neither bFGF nor angiogenin were correlated with any clinical manifestation of pleural effusion. Immunohistochemical study revealed that malignant cells in the pleura were stained with anti-VEGF antibody. Our data suggest that VEGF secreted from tumor cells may be involved in the accumulation of pleural effusion in malignancy, and that increased levels of VEGF may induce hemorrhagic effusion.
Department of Respiratory Oncology and Molecular Medicine, Institute of Development, Aging, and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
Osamu
O
Ishimoto
Yasuo
Y
Saijo
Ko
K
Narumi
Yuichiro
Y
Kimura
Masahito
M
Ebina
Nobumichi
N
Matsubara
Noboru
N
Asou
Yushi
Y
Nakai
Toshihiro
T
Nukiwa
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008222:Lymphokines / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D016066:Pleural Effusion, Malignant / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D012259:Ribonuclease, Pancreatic / Q000378:metabolism*; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors
D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors; D008222:Lymphokines; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2; C046366:angiogenin; D012259:Ribonuclease, Pancreatic