Relationship between circulating vascular endothelial growth factor and its soluble receptors in adults with dengue virus infection: a case-control study.
BACKGROUND
We performed a case-control study to assess the relationship between vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its soluble receptors (sVEGFR-1 and 2) in adult patients with dengue fever (DF) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF).


METHODS
We recruited 60 adult patients (34 DF and 26 DHF) with serologically-confirmed dengue infections, 10 patients with non-hemorrhagic infections, and 31 community-based healthy volunteers. The levels of VEGF, sVEGFR-1, and sVEGFR-2 were measured and the differences in these markers were compared using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), which was adjusted for multiple comparisons.


RESULTS
We observed lower VEGF levels in DF and DHF compared to study controls (p<0.01). sVEGFR-1 was higher in DHF than DF, whilst sVEGFR-2 was lower in DF and DHF compared to study controls (all p<0.01). In DHF, lower VEGF levels were observed in older patients. The use of a single marker, sVEGFR-1>350 pg/ml, was predictive of DHF.


CONCLUSIONS
The changes in VEGF and its soluble receptors highlight the importance of vascular permeability cytokines in the pathogenesis of DHF.
Seet
Raymond C S
RC
Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University, and Department of Medicine, National University Hospital, Singapore. raymond_seet@nus.edu.sg
Chow
Adeline W L
AW
Quek
Amy M L
AM
Chan
Yiong-Huak
YH
Lim
Erle C H
EC
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003715:Dengue / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D040262:Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor / Q000097:blood*; D019595:Severe Dengue / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology; D012995:Solubility; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000097:blood*; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1 / Q000097:blood; D040301:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2 / Q000097:blood
D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D040262:Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1; D040301:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2