title: Clinical relevance of VEGF receptors 1 and 2 in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia.
abstract: Vascularity is increased in the bone marrow of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and high vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels correlate with worse survival. We analyzed the significance of VEGF-receptor 1 (VEGF-R1) and VEGF-R2 levels in bone marrow samples from 170 CML patients (137 chronic, 24 accelerated, and 9 blastic phase). Median VEGF-R1 and VEGF-R2 levels were 4.66 and 2-fold, respectively, that in normal control samples. Receptor levels did not correlate with disease phase or other host and disease features examined. Chronic phase CML patients with increased VEGF-R2 levels had significantly inferior survival than patients without receptor up-regulation (P=0.009). Patients in accelerated/blastic phase CML with elevated VEGF-R2 expression had marginally worse survival (P=0.05). In contrast, high VEGF-R1 levels did not correlate with a specific CML phase, characteristic, or outcome. Our findings support VEGF-R2 over-expression as an independent prognostic indicator for shortened survival in patients with CML.
authors.affiliation: Department of Leukemia, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, P.O. Box 428, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Srdan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Verstovsek
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lunin
authors.forename: Hagop
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kantarjian
authors.forename: Taghi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Manshouri
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Faderl
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cortes
authors.forename: Francis
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Giles
authors.forename: Maher
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Albitar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001752:Blast Crisis; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D015973:Gene Expression Regulation, Leukemic; D006801:Humans; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008222:Lymphokines / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic; D011379:Prognosis; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D040301:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors
chemical_list: D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008222:Lymphokines; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1; D040301:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2