title: [Detection and clinical significance of plasma vascular endothelial growth factor level in gastrointestinal stromal tumor patients].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the clinical significance of plasma vascular endothelial growth factor (p-VEGF) levels in gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The p-VEGF levels in 61 primary GIST patients, 18 patients with recurrence or metastasis, and 28 healthy blood donators (as control) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Paired p-VEGF levels of pre- and post-treatment were obtained from 44 patients. One patient received 22 consecutive detections during the follow up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Primary and recurrent GIST patients had higher p-VEGF levels than healthy controls [(145.31+/-45.58) ng/L, (145.72+/-52.73) ng/L vs (89.86+/-18.30) ng/L] (P<0.01). And there were no significant differences between primary patients and patients with recurrence or metastasis (P>0.05). Significant difference were found in the p-VEGF levels between pre- and post-treatment patients (P<0.01). Post-treatment p-VEGF levels decreased markedly both in 26 primary and 11 recurrent patients [(101.81+/-27.63) ng/L and (112.45+/-38.58) ng/L]. As for the patient with 22 consecutive detections during the follow up, p-VEGF levels the period of were higher before surgery and after recurrence, and lower two months after surgery and during Glivec therapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The p-VEGF level of GIST patients is significantly higher than that of healthy people, which will decrease markedly after effective management. Monitoring the p-VEGF level in GIST patients will be helpful to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and predict the recurrence or metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Jing-lei
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Ying-yong
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Kun-tang
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Cong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Xue-fei
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yi-hong
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D046152:Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A