title: Elevation of plasma placental growth factor in the patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Placental growth factor (PlGF), which is a member of the vascular endothelial growth factor family, stimulates angiogenesis and collateral growth in ischemic tissues. In addition, PlGF has been known to be a useful biomarker of vascular inflammation. This study was undertaken to examine whether plasma PlGF levels were increased in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF).
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety-eight patients with systolic heart failure (ejection fraction <40%) and twenty control subjects were enrolled. The patients were divided into four subgroups according to the criteria of NYHA functional class. Plasma PlGF, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), norepinephrine, high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In analysis of all the subjects, there was no significant difference in plasma PlGF levels among the subgroups of NYHA classes and the controls. In the ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) patients, however, plasma PlGF levels were significantly increased according to the severity of NYHA class; control: 8.9+/-0.5; NYHA I: 9.4+/-1.1, NYHA II: 9.7+/-1.9, NYHA III: 14.6+/-1.2, NYHA IV: 17.9+/-1.9 pg/ml (p=0.0006). Plasma PlGF levels correlated positively with BNP (r=0.53, p=0.0003) and hs-CRP (r=0.23, p=0.02) in the ICM patients, whereas there was not any correlation between plasma PlGF levels and other variable values in the non-ICM patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the ICM patients, plasma PlGF levels are increased according to the severity of heart failure. These results may indicate that augmented release of PlGF is involved in the pathogenesis of cardiomyopathy derived from chronic myocardial ischemia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Jichi Medical University Saitama Medical Center, Saitama, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Funayama
authors.forename: Norifumi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.forename: Takanori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yasu
authors.forename: Masanobu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kawakami
authors.forename: Shin-ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Momomura
authors.forename: San-e
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D000072483:Placenta Growth Factor; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C000608036:PGF protein, human; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins; D000072483:Placenta Growth Factor