title: Elevated levels of serum vascular endothelial growth factor in patients with polycythaemia vera.
abstract: Angiogenesis seems to be a prominent event of myeloproliferative diseases. There are few reported data on angiogenesis and the significance of its stimulator, the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), in polycythaemia vera (PV). We report our observation of elevated serum VEGF levels in patients suffering from PV. Twenty patients with PV and 20 age-matched healthy subjects were enrolled. VEGF levels were measured by a quantitative sandwich enzyme immunoassay. Serum VEGF levels in PV were found to be very significantly higher than in healthy individuals (569.7 +/- 101.2 vs. 164.7 +/- 32.8 pg/ml, p = 0.001). We found no correlation between VEGF and haemoglobin, platelet or leucocyte counts in the patient group. Different therapeutic regimens had no influence on VEGF levels. However, in the control group, we observed a positive correlation between VEGF levels and platelet counts (r = 0.52, p = 0.02). Platelet counts did not differ between patients and healthy subjects. We also evaluated platelet-poor plasma VEGF levels in 10 patients and in all healthy individuals. We found very low levels of VEGF, approximately zero in most cases, in both groups and there was obviously no difference between the two groups. Our results indicate that VEGF is overproduced in PV. However, follow-up studies are needed to verify the role of this factor.
authors.affiliation: Second Propedeutic Department of Internal Medicine, Aristotelion University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece. aviyz@med.auth.gr
authors.forename: Stamatia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Theodoridou
authors.forename: Timoleon
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vyzantiadis
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vakalopoulou
authors.forename: Vassilios
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Perifanis
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tziomalos
authors.forename: Athanassios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vyzantiadis
authors.forename: Vassilia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Garipidou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers; D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006454:Hemoglobins; D006801:Humans; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008222:Lymphokines / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010976:Platelet Count; D011087:Polycythemia Vera / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors; D006454:Hemoglobins; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008222:Lymphokines; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors