Does serum soluble vascular endothelial growth factor levels have different importance in pediatric acute leukemia and malignant lymphoma patients?

Abstract

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) seems to play a central role in angiogenesis-lymphangiogenesis in hematological malignancies. There are limited data related to childhood hematologic malignancies. The aim of the study was to evaluate soluble VEGF (sVEGF) levels in children with acute leukemia and malignant lymphoma (ML) at diagnosis and in remission. The levels of serum sVEGF were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 20 children with acute leukemia, 33 children with different histopathological subtypes of ML, and 20 healthy controls. The levels of sVEGF at diagnosis (range 2 -1040 pg/mL; median 52 pg/mL) was significantly lower than in remission (range 136 -1960 pg/mL; median 630 pg/mL) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) group (P = .018). The sVEGF levels at diagnosis (range: 2 -640 pg/mL; median 89 pg/mL) was significantly lower compared to remission values (range: 116 -1960 pg/mL; median 136 pg/mL) in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) (P = .002). In ML group, including Burkitt's lymphoma (BL), T-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), and Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), sVEGF levels at diagnosis were higher than remission levels, but there was no statistically significant difference (P >.05). On the other hand, there were significant difference between levels in active disease and control group, ie, BL versus control, T-cell NHL versus control, and HL versus control (P = .008, P = .043, P = .007, respectively). The authors noticed that sVEGF levels showed distinct behavioral pattern in different childhood malignancies at diagnosis and in remission. In acute leukemia and ML patients, VEGF acts through different pathophysiological mechanisms, in both bone marrow (BM) angiogenesis and lymphoid tissue lymphangiogenesis.

• Authors: Handan Ugur Dincaslan, Gulsan Yavuz, Emel Unal, Nurdan Tacyildiz, Aydan Ikinciogullari, Figen Dogu, Deniz Guloglu, Nazmiye Yuksek, Ulya Ertem
• Journal: Pediatric hematology and oncology (Pediatr Hematol Oncol) Vol. 27 Issue 7 Pg. 503-16 (Oct 2010) ISSN: 1521-0669 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 20677920 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors

Topics

• Adolescent
• Child
• Child, Preschool
• Female
• Hodgkin Disease (blood, diagnosis, therapy)
• Humans
• Infant
• Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute (blood, diagnosis, therapy)
• Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin (blood, diagnosis, therapy)
• Male
• Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma (blood, diagnosis, therapy)
• Remission Induction
• Sensitivity and Specificity
• Solubility
• Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors (blood)