Serum Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor And It's Clinical Significance In Patients With Leukemia

The occurrence and progression of malignant tumor is dependent on neovascularization. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays an important role in angiogenesis by acting as a potent inducer of vascular permeability as well as serving as a specific endothelial cell mitogen.AIMS: The aims of this study were to evaluate the levels of serum VEGF(sVEGF) and their clinical significances in patients with acute and chronic leukemias .METHODS: We measured serum VEGF (sVEGF) concentrations by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay( ELISA ) in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML n=30)and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML n=10) ,acute lymphoma leukemia (ALL n=10) and Myelodysplastic syndrome( MDS n=6) as well as in patients with benign haematological diseases(n=10) and in healthy volunteers(n=10).RESULTS: sVEGF levels were significantly increased in newly diagnosed AML, CML and MDS. The highest plasma levels of VEGF were in CML, with a mean levels of ( 408.160+/-221.364pg/ml ), The mean levels of sVEGF in AML were (240.709+/-93.415pg/ml) and in MDS were ( 136.997+7-45.416pg/ml). There were no significantly difference between sVEGF levels with CML in chronic phase and in accelerated and blast phases. The mean levels of sVEGF in patients with MDS were significantly lower than those with AML. we also found The mean levels of sVEGF in patients with newly diagnosed AML (n=14) decreased significantly (with mean levels: 115.549+/-58.672pg/ml) after a cycle of standard chemotherapy . The levelsof sVEGF in AML with complete remission were significantly lower than newly diagnosed and relapsed cases, but still have significantly differences compared with the controls'. The mean levels of sVEGF in ALL were 67.060+/-37.051pg/ml ) and there were no significantly differences compared with the controls. There were no significantly differences between the levels of sVEGF in the benign and healthy controls.CONCLUSION : Our study shows that VEGF, as a proangiogenesis factor were significantly increase in serum with acute and chronic myeloid leukemia as well as in myelodysplastic syndrome .The levels of sVEGF in patients with AML who obtained complete remission after chemotherapy were significantly lower than pre-treating sVEGF in AML. angiogenesis and VEGF may play a role in the leukemogenic process. Antiangoigenesis therapy may be an effective treatment in leukemia.