Expression of hepatocyte growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor in acute myeloid leukemia and their relationship with angiogenesis

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expression of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)in acute myeloid leukemia(AML) and its significance in the progress of AML.Methods Serum levels of HGF and VEGF in AML patients,including 25 de novo cases,17 cases with complete remission( CR),16 cases without remission and 12 cases with relapse,were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay( ELISA ).The data were compared with those of normal controls.Results The serum levels of HGF were( 1357.29 ± 358.64)ng/L in de novo patients,(1175.93 ± 306.71 )ng/L in patients without remission and( 1261.21 ± 340.83 )ng/L in patients with relapse,which were significantly higher than those in normal control(232.62 ± 99.13 ) ng/L and CR patients ( 256.65 ± 94.32 ) ng/L( F =78.35,P ＜ 0.01 ).The serum levels of VEGF were ( 253.84 ± 49.14 ) ng/L in de novo patients,( 245.87 ± 54.68 ) ng/L in patients without remission and(264.75 ± 62.52) ng/L in patients with relapse,which were significantly higher than those in normal control ( 97.61 ± 16.19 ) ng/L and CR patients ( 99.76 ± 15.93 ) ng/L ( F =68.65,P ＜ 0.01 ).Compared with de novo group,the serum levels of HGF and VEGF in CR patients decreased significantly but showed no significant difference from those in normal controls(P ＞0.05).The expression of HGF and VEGF in acute myeloid leukemia was positively correlated with each other ( r =0.49,P ＜ 0.05 ).Conclusion The expression of HGF and VEGF was closely related with the incidence and development of acute myeloid leukemia.Preventing HGF expression may be a possible strategy for leukemia therapy in the future. Key words: Acute myeloid leukemia; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Hepatoeyte growth factor