title: Angiogenic factors are associated with multiple sclerosis.
abstract: A growing body of evidence suggests that angiogenesis plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). Animal models of MS show a significant improvement when the process of angiogenesis is halted. In this study, we measured the serum levels of vascular-endothelial growth factor (VEGF), soluble Endoglin (sEng), angiopoietin 1(Ang-1), angiopoietin 2 (Ang-2), and uric acid (UA) as well as serum anti-Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) EBNA-1 IgG in 50 MS patients (including 20 newly diagnosed and 30 patients taking IFN-beta for >6months) and 40 healthy individuals. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) were used apart from UA where the uricase quantitative enzymatic assay was used. A significant increase of VEGF, Ang-1, Ang-2, and sEng in serum samples of MS patients with respect to healthy subjects was observed. VEGF was higher in newly diagnosed MS patients in comparison to patients taking interferon-beta and was associated with EDSS. The serum levels of UA were statistically lower in MS patients as compared to the healthy group. Higher levels of anti-EBV antibody titers were seen in MS patients than controls and anti-EBV titers correlated with angiogenic factors. It seems that in summary, angiogenesis may play an important role in MS and infection with EBV might be correlated with this phenomenon.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Sajad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karampoor
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zahednasab
authors.affiliation: Evidera, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sreeram
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ramagopalan
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Firoozgar Hospital, Firoozgar Clinical Research Development Center (FCRDC), Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Masoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mehrpour
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: keyvanlab@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Keyvani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D043925:Angiogenesis Inducing Agents / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D042683:Angiopoietin-1 / Q000097:blood; D000906:Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D000071063:Endoglin / Q000097:blood; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D019309:Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014527:Uric Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000097:blood; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C467630:ANGPT1 protein, human; D043925:Angiogenesis Inducing Agents; D042683:Angiopoietin-1; D000906:Antibodies; D000071063:Endoglin; D019309:Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigens; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D014527:Uric Acid
keywords: Angiogenesis; EBV; EDSS; Multiple sclerosis