Functional significance of vascular endothelial growth factor and its receptor (receptor-1) in various lung cancer types.
OBJECTIVE
VEGF is one of the key factors in tumor angiogenesis that may be involved in tumor growth and metastasis. VEGF receptor, a naturally occurring soluble form of the VEGFR-1 (sVEGFR-1. flt-1), is produced by endothelial cells by differential splicing of the flt-1 gene, and is a negative counterpart of the VEGF signaling pathway.


METHODS
We investigated the levels of VEGF and sVEGFR-1, a known intrinsic inhibitor of VEGF, in 42 patients with various types of lung cancers before beginning treatment and 18 healthy subjects.


RESULTS
Serum sVEGFR-1 levels (mean +/- SD; pg/ml) were 465.17 +/- 158.34 in patients and were significantly higher than those of the healthy subjects (156.39 +/- 89.17) (P < 0.0001). Serum VEGF levels of patients (449.48 +/- 175.54 pg/ml) were significantly higher in patients than in healthy subjects (77.06 +/- 47.26 pg/ml) (P < 0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that increased sVEGFR-1 and VEGF levels are important parameters in lung cancers.
Ilhan
Nevin
N
Department of Biochemistry and Clinical Biochemistry, Firat University, Elazig, Turkey. drnilhan@yahoo.com
Ilhan
Necip
N
Deveci
Figen
F
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000097:blood*; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1 / Q000097:blood*
D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1