Division of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, 1-1 Mukogawa-cho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo 663 8501, Japan.
Respir Med. 2011 Jan;105(1):137-42. doi: 10.1016/j.rmed.2010.10.010. Epub 2010 Oct 30.
Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive malignant tumor of mesothelial origin associated with asbestos exposure. MPM has a limited response to conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy so early diagnosis of MPM is very important. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a potent mitogen for the vascular endothelium, is also known to be an autocrine growth factor for MPM. Here, we investigated the pleural effusion VEGF levels in patients with MPM and compared them to those of a population with a non-malignant pleuritis or lung cancer involving malignant pleural effusion.
The pleural effusion VEGF concentrations were measured in 46 MPM patients and 45 individuals with non-MPM individuals (25 individuals with non-malignant pleural effusions, and 20 individuals with lung cancer involving malignant pleural effusion).
We demonstrated that patients with MPM had significantly higher pleural effusion VEGF levels than a population with non-malignant pleuritis or lung cancer involving malignant pleural effusion, and the patients with advanced stage MPM showed higher levels of VEGF than the early stage MPM patients. The difference in overall survival between the groups with pleural effusion VEGF levels lower and higher than the assumed cut-off of 2000pg/ml was significant.
Our data suggest that the pleural effusion VEGF concentration could be useful as an aid for the diagnosis of MPM and as a prognostic factor.
恶性胸膜间皮瘤（MPM）是一种与石棉暴露有关的间皮来源的侵袭性恶性肿瘤。MPM 对常规化疗和放疗的反应有限，因此早期诊断 MPM 非常重要。血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）是血管内皮的有效有丝分裂原，也被认为是 MPM 的自分泌生长因子。在这里，我们研究了 MPM 患者胸腔积液中的 VEGF 水平，并将其与非恶性胸膜炎或伴有恶性胸腔积液的肺癌患者进行了比较。
测量了 46 例 MPM 患者和 45 例非 MPM 患者（25 例非恶性胸腔积液患者和 20 例伴有恶性胸腔积液的肺癌患者）胸腔积液中的 VEGF 浓度。
我们证明，MPM 患者胸腔积液中的 VEGF 水平明显高于非恶性胸膜炎或伴有恶性胸腔积液的肺癌患者，晚期 MPM 患者的 VEGF 水平高于早期 MPM 患者。胸腔积液 VEGF 水平低于和高于假设的 2000pg/ml 截值的两组之间的总生存差异有统计学意义。
我们的数据表明，胸腔积液 VEGF 浓度可作为 MPM 诊断的辅助手段和预后因素。
