Gao Lina, Zhou Shaodan, Cai Haowei, Gong Zhongying, Zang Dawei
Department of Neurology, Tianjin First Center Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.
Department of Neurology, Tianjin First Center Hospital, Tianjin Medical University, 300192, China.
J Neurol Sci. 2014 Nov 15;346(1-2):216-20. doi: 10.1016/j.jns.2014.08.031. Epub 2014 Aug 29.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an incurable neurodegenerative disorder involving both upper and lower motor neurons in the cerebral cortex, brainstem and spinal cord. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was originally described as a factor with a regulatory role in vascular growth and development, and now it also functions as a neurotrophic factor protecting motoneurons from insults such as oxidative stress, hypoxia and glutamate-excitotoxicity, but the role of VEGF in ALS is still unclear. The aim of this study is to measure cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum VEGF levels in patients with ALS, and to investigate whether there are correlations between CSF and serum VEGF levels and clinical parameters of the disease and whether VEGF has a prognostic and evaluating potential for ALS. Results showed that VEGF levels were found to increase significantly in CSF and serum in ALS patients studied; they were positively and significantly correlated with the disease duration in ALS patients and inversely and significantly correlated with disease progression rate (DPR) of ALS patients. Moreover, CSF and serum from ALS patients with long duration and slow disease progression rate revealed higher VEGF levels as compared to ALS patients with short duration and rapid disease progression rate. In conclusion, VEGF upregulation may indicate an activation of compensatory responses in ALS which may reflect or in fact account for increased duration and slow disease progression rate. We propose that VEGF may be a useful biomarker having the prognostic and evaluating potential for ALS.
肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS）是一种无法治愈的神经退行性疾病，累及大脑皮层、脑干和脊髓中的上、下运动神经元。血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）最初被描述为一种在血管生长和发育中起调节作用的因子，现在它还作为一种神经营养因子发挥作用，保护运动神经元免受氧化应激、缺氧和谷氨酸兴奋性毒性等损伤，但VEGF在ALS中的作用仍不清楚。本研究的目的是测量ALS患者脑脊液（CSF）和血清中的VEGF水平，并调查CSF和血清VEGF水平与该疾病临床参数之间是否存在相关性，以及VEGF是否对ALS具有预后评估潜力。结果显示，在所研究的ALS患者中，CSF和血清中的VEGF水平显著升高；它们与ALS患者的病程呈正相关且显著相关，与ALS患者的疾病进展率（DPR）呈负相关且显著相关。此外，与病程短、疾病进展快的ALS患者相比，病程长、疾病进展慢的ALS患者的CSF和血清显示出更高的VEGF水平。总之，VEGF上调可能表明ALS中代偿反应的激活，这可能反映或实际上解释了病程延长和疾病进展缓慢。我们认为VEGF可能是一种对ALS具有预后评估潜力的有用生物标志物。
