Clinical significance of plasma and serum vascular endothelial growth factor in asthma.
BACKGROUND
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a mediator of airway inflammation and remodeling in asthma.


OBJECTIVE
We investigated whether VEGF levels are elevated in plasma and serum obtained from patients with asthma and evaluated whether levels of plasma VEGF correlated with those of serum VEGF.


METHODS
We measured levels of plasma and serum VEGF in patients with stable asthma or with acute asthma and examined the correlation between plasma and serum VEGF concentration with initial forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV(1)).


RESULTS
We found that levels of VEGF in plasma or in serum were significantly increased in stable asthmatic patients and even higher in acute asthmatic patients compared with the levels in healthy control subjects. The levels of serum VEGF correlated significantly with those of plasma VEGF. Additionally, the circulating VEGF levels were significantly inversely correlated with the percent predicted FEV(1).


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that the overproduction of VEGF is implicated in asthma exacerbation and that measurement of either plasma or serum VEGF level can be a valid index in asthmatic patients. Therefore, the changes in the VEGF levels in peripheral blood of asthmatic patients can be used as a measure for progression of asthma during treatment.
Lee
Ka Young
KY
Department of Internal Medicine and Airway Remodeling Laboratory, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Deokjin-Gu, Jeonju, Republic of Korea.
Lee
Kyung Sun
KS
Park
Seoung Ju
SJ
Kim
So Ri
SR
Min
Kyung Hoon
KH
Choe
Yeong Hun
YH
Lee
Yong Chul
YC
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010949:Plasma; D044967:Serum; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000097:blood*
D015415:Biomarkers; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A