Background & objective: To investigate the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) & basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in primary acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells, and study plasma VEGF& bFGF concentration in patients with AML and the two factors' clinical significance.
Methods: VEGF&bFGF and their receptors mRNA expression were detected by RT-PCR; VEGF & bFGF plasma level was analyzed by ELISA.
Results: In 107 AML patients, the positive mRNA expression rate of VEGF, KDR and Flt1 was 56.1%, 49.5%, and 2.8%, respectively; for bFGF and FGFR1-4, the positive rate was 21.5%, 35.5%, 9.4%, 35.5% and 23.4%, respectively. VEGF concentration in AML (154.75+/-109.98) pg/ml was significantly higher than that in AML-CR (72.05+/-23.39) pg/ml and the normal control (99.91+/-41.87) pg/ml (P< 0.05). Nevertheless, the level of bFGF had no significant difference among AML, AML-CR and the normal control. VEGF level (124.05+/-76.57) pg/ml in patients, who got complete remission (CR) after 2 cycles of chemotherapy, was remarkably lower than that (211.243+/-169.88) pg/ml in patients without CR (P< 0.05). Furthermore, the higher the concentration of VEGF & bFGF, the shorter the survival was.
Conclusion: VEGF& bFGF and their receptors mRNA in leukemic patients could be expressed to some degree,and our investigation suggested VEGF &bFGF and their receptors probably be produced by autocrine or paracrin. Abnormally high level of VEGF may be a poor factor for chemotherapy and survival in AML. The prognosis of patients with AML may be improved by treating VEGF and their receptors as therapy targets.