Clinical significance of serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor and its receptor in biliary disease and carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the clinical significance of serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and soluble VEGF receptor-1 (VEGFR1/Flt-1) (sVEGFR1) levels in biliary diseases.


METHODS
We analyzed the serum levels of these proteins in patients with acute cholangitis (group 1), biliary malignancies (group 2), and primary biliary cirrhosis or primary sclerosing cholangitis (group 3), and in healthy donors (group 4). The influence of inflammation was also analyzed. Serum VEGF levels were expressed as VEGF per platelet (VEGF/PLT, pg/10(6)) in order to exclude the influence of platelet counts.


RESULTS
sVEGFR1 levels were significantly higher in groups 1 and 2 than in the control group, but did not correlate with inflammatory markers. VEGF/PLT levels were generally higher in patients with active inflammation than in those with carcinoma. C-reactive protein strongly correlated with the levels of serum VEGF independently of platelet and leukocyte counts, even in cancer patients. In cancer patients, VEGF/PLT and sVEGFR1 levels might be indicators for evaluating the effect of medical treatment or the disease progression.


CONCLUSIONS
Serum VEGF and VEGFR1 might be useful markers for gauging the clinical effect of various treatments on patients.
Enjoji
Munechika
M
Department of Medicine and Bioregulatory Science, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan. enjoji@intmed3.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp
Nakamuta
Makoto
M
Yamaguchi
Koji
K
Ohta
Satoshi
S
Kotoh
Kazuhiro
K
Fukushima
Marie
M
Kuniyoshi
Masami
M
Yamada
Tomomi
T
Tanaka
Masao
M
Nawata
Hajime
H
D001649:Bile Duct Diseases / Q000097:blood*; D001650:Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000097:blood; D015415:Biomarkers; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D015209:Cholangitis, Sclerosing / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008105:Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary / Q000097:blood; D010976:Platelet Count; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000097:blood*; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1 / Q000097:blood*
D015415:Biomarkers; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D002097:C-Reactive Protein; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1