title: Correlation of vascular endothelial growth factor with the severity of thalassemia intermedia.
abstract: Several lines of evidence indicate that thalassemia intermedia is associated with disturbances in vascular endothelial cell proliferation. In addition, autopsy studies of thalassemia intermedia reported obstructive lesions in the pulmonary artery in 44% of cases, especially splenectomized patients, and a recent in-vivo study reported increased level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in thalassemia intermedia. The aim of the present study was to determine whether VEGF levels are correlated with the severity of the disease. Blood samples were collected from 21 patients with thalassemia intermedia and assayed for VEGF by a two-site enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. A significant correlation was noted between VEGF levels and patient age (P = 0.0022, r = 0.82), presence of splenomegaly (P = 0.004, r = 0.79) and hepatomegaly (P = 0.023, r = 0.82). VEGF levels were also significantly correlated with both left ventricular end-diastolic diameter and left ventricular end-systolic diameter (P = 0.02, r = 0.84 and P = 0.01, r = 0.86, respectively). The study indicates that VEGF levels may be related to the clinical severity of thalassemia intermedia, as expressed by the degree of hepatomegaly and splenectomy and cardiac indexes. Further and larger studies are needed to confirm these observations.
authors.affiliation: Pulmonary Institute, Rabin Medical Center, Beilinson Campus, Petah Tiqva, Israel. davids3@clalit.org.il
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shitrit
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tamary
authors.forename: Ariel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koren
authors.forename: Carina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Levin
authors.forename: Ariella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bargil-Shitrit
authors.forename: Jaqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sulkes
authors.forename: Mordechai R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Kramer
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D006529:Hepatomegaly / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013163:Splenomegaly / Q000097:blood; D013789:Thalassemia / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A