Increased circulating vascular endothelial growth factor is correlated with disease activity in polyarticular juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

Objective. To investigate the relevance of vascular endothelial growth fact or (VEGF) in the pathogenesis of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). Methods. Serum VEGF levels in 58 patients with JRA (systemic in 17, polyart icular in 29, pauciarticular in 12) were measured by ELISA and compared wit h those of 21 patients with infectious diseases and 50 healthy children. Co rrelations of VEGF levels with number of joints with active arthritis, eryt hrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and hyaluronic acid (HA) were examined. Results. Serum levels of VEGF in patients with JRA were significantly highe r than in healthy controls. Patients with systemic and polyarticular JRA sh owed statistically higher levels of VEOF than those with infectious disease s. VEGF levels correlated statistically with C-reactive protein (CRP) in pa tients with both infectious diseases and polyarticular JRA, but the regress ion slope (VEGF/CRP) was much steeper in polyarticular JRA than in infectio us diseases. Serum VEGF levels correlated with disease activity variables s uch as the number of joints with active arthritis, ESR, and serum HA levels in polyarticular JRA. Conclusion. The correlation of serum VEGF levels and disease activity in po lyarticular JRA suggests that VEGF may take an active part in joint inflamm ation.