Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor,hypoxia Induced Factor-1α And Obstructive Sleep Apnea-hypopnea Syndrome

Objective To investigate the role of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α(HIF-1α) in the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea-hypopnoea syndrome.Methods Polysomnography (PSG) was used to conduct sleep apnea monitoring in 48 OSAHS with cardiovascular diseases (CVD),52 OSAHS patients and 100 healthy controls with normal physical examinations, the levels of HIF-1αand VEGF in plasma was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The expression of VEGF mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells were examined by semi-quantitative reverse transcription- polymerase chain reaction analysis, we examined polymorphism of the position +813 in VEGF by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method.Results (1)The level of HIF-1αand VEGF in plasma and the level of VEGF mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells among three groups were diffent and the differences were significant(P <0.01).①The levels of HIF-1αand VEGF in plasma and the level of VEGF mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells were significantly higher in simple OSAHS group than those in control group by LSD method(P <0.01).②The levels of HIF-1αand VEGF in plasma and the level of VEGF mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in OSAHS with CVD group were higher than those in simple OSAHS group by LSD method(P <0.01).(2)①There were different positive correlations between the levels of HIF-1α,VEGF in plasma,VEGF mRNA and AHI,T-SaO2<90%,systolic blood pressure,diastolic blood pressure, there was a negative correlation between the levels of HIF-1α,VEGF in plasma,VEGF mRNA and minSaO2.②There was a positive correlation between the concentration of HIF-1αin plasma and the concentration of VEGF in plasma,the level of VEGF mRNA.(3)As for +813 genotypes, genotypes CT and TT were more often in control subjects than in OSAHS patients. A significant increase in the frequency of the T allele was observed in control subjects. Both in OSAHS group and in control group the level of VEGF in plasma with CC genotype patients was relatively increased compared with that in CT +TT genotype patients, the difference was significant (P < 0.05).Conclusions The level of HIF-1αin OSAHS was significantly increased,especially in OSAHS with CVD group, mainly through adjusting the level of VEGF, and these may participate in the pathogenesis of OSAHS, and may be the pathogenesis of OSAHS with CVD. We suggest that in VEGF gene polymorphisms the T allele at +813 may decrease susceptibility to OSAHS.