Ranieri Girolamo, Coviello Maria, Chiriatti Annalisa, Stea Baldassarre, Montemurro Severino, Quaranta Michele, Dittadi Ruggero, Paradiso Angelo
Interventional Radiology Unit, National Cancer Institute, Via Amendola 209, I-70126 Bari, Italy.
Oncol Rep. 2004 Feb;11(2):435-9.
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is known to play a central role in tumour angiogenesis. Up to now inconclusive data have been published on the clinical-biological significance of circulating VEGF and on the most suitable blood fraction for measuring it. The aims of this pilot study were to assess VEGF in blood compartments of 16 healthy control volunteers and 56 gastrointestinal cancer patients, prospectively collected, to identify the most suitable blood fraction for the determination of VEGF and to evaluate its possible clinical-biological significance. Samples of serum (S) and plasma (P) in both sodium citrate (SC) and sodium citrate-theophylline-adenosine-dipyridamole (CTAD) were collected from venous blood. After the centrifugation and separation methods VEGF levels were detected by ELISA in: S, plasma-platelets poor (P-PP), plasma-activated platelets rich (P-APR) and blood-lysed whole (B-LW). The best differentiation between healthy control volunteers and cancer patients in VEGF level was seen for P-APRCTAD (mean value: 278 pg/ml vs 77 pg/ml; p=0.0036 by t-test). No significant correlation among the blood fractions of VEGF analysed and clinical-pathological features was found. Our data suggest that P-APRCTAD blood fraction, obtained according to well standardised conditions, could represent the most suitable compartment for the assessment of VEGF. We suggest that VEGF levels in P-APRCTAD could play a role as an angiogenic marker of malignant gastrointestinal transformation. Further studies on a larger series of patients and healthy controls with the same experimental methodological conditions are required to confirm our preliminary conclusions.
血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）在肿瘤血管生成中发挥着核心作用。到目前为止，关于循环VEGF的临床生物学意义以及测量它的最合适血液成分，已经发表了一些尚无定论的数据。本初步研究的目的是评估16名健康对照志愿者和56名胃肠道癌患者血液成分中的VEGF，这些样本是前瞻性收集的，以确定测定VEGF的最合适血液成分，并评估其可能的临床生物学意义。从静脉血中采集柠檬酸钠（SC）和柠檬酸钠 - 茶碱 - 腺苷 - 双嘧达莫（CTAD）抗凝的血清（S）和血浆（P）样本。经过离心和分离方法后，通过ELISA在以下样本中检测VEGF水平：血清（S）、血小板贫乏血浆（P - PP）、富含活化血小板的血浆（P - APR）和全血裂解物（B - LW）。对于P - APRCTAD，健康对照志愿者和癌症患者之间的VEGF水平差异最为明显（平均值：278 pg/ml对77 pg/ml；t检验p = 0.0036）。在所分析的VEGF血液成分与临床病理特征之间未发现显著相关性。我们的数据表明，根据标准化条件获得的P - APRCTAD血液成分可能是评估VEGF最合适的成分。我们认为P - APRCTAD中的VEGF水平可能作为恶性胃肠道转化的血管生成标志物发挥作用。需要在更大系列的患者和健康对照中，在相同的实验方法条件下进行进一步研究，以证实我们的初步结论。
