Effect of paclitaxel on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and interleukin (IL)-8 in serum of patients with recurrent ovarian cancer: a comparison of weekly vs triweekly regimens

Abstract

Antiangiogenic scheduling of cancer chemotherapeutics has been increasingly recognized to be a potential application of the paclitaxel in cancer therapy. The purpose of this study is to confirm antiangiogenic effects of weekly low-dose paclitaxel in recurrent ovarian carcinoma. Measurements of serum vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) and interleukin (IL)-8 were performed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. Serum was collected with written informed consents. Serum levels of VEGF and IL-8 were measured in patients with benign ovarian tumors, low malignant potential ovarian tumors (LMP), and ovarian carcinomas. Among 20 patients with pretreated recurrent ovarian carcinoma, 10 patients receiving treatment with paclitaxel (180 mg/m2) given once every 3 weeks (triweekly paclitaxel) and the other 10 patients receiving treatment with weekly paclitaxel (80 mg/m2) were randomly allocated. Sera from these patients were collected before treatment and 3 weeks after initiation of treatment to determine changes of VEGF and IL-8 levels. Although VEGF levels were highest in patients with ovarian carcinoma, there was no significant difference among benign, LMP, and carcinoma. Among patients with detectable levels of IL-8, ovarian carcinoma showed significantly higher IL-8 levels than benign tumors followed by LMP. VEGF levels in patients with treatment by triweekly paclitaxel did not show any significant change before and after treatment, while those in patients with treatment by weekly paclitaxel decreased significantly after treatment. Similarly, in patients with detectable IL-8 levels, weekly paclitaxel resulted in a significant decrease of IL-8 levels after treatment, while triweekly paclitaxel did not result in any significant change of IL-8 levels. The present study demonstrated that weekly but not triweekly paclitaxel had significant antiangiogenic effects.