Soluble vascular endothelial growth factor in various blood transfusion components

BACKGROUND: Blood transfusion may reduce survival after curative surgery fo r solid tumors. This may be related to extracellular content of cancer grow th factors present in transfusion components. Vascular endothelial growth f actor (VFGF) isa potent stimulator of angiogenesis in solid tumors. The pot ential content of VEGF in various blood components for transfusion was eval uated. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Soluble VEGF; (sVEGF, isotype 165) was determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (EIA) in serum and plasma samples and in lysed cells from healthy volunteers; Subsequently, total content of sVEGF was determined in nonfiltered and prestorage white cell-reduced whole blood (WB); buffy coat-depleted saline-adenine-glucose-mannitol (SAGM) blo od, platelet-rich plasma (PRP), and buffy coat-derived platelet (BCP) pools obtained from volunteer. healthy blood donors. As a control, total content of platelet-derived soluble plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (sPAI-1 ) was determined by an EIA in the same samples. Finally, the extracellular accumulation of sVEGF was determined in nonfiltered WE and SAGM blood durin g storage for 35 days and in BCP pools during storage for 7 days. RESULTS: In the healthy volunteers, median total sVEGF content was 97 (rang e, 20-303) pg per mt in serum and 19 (13-57) pg per mt in plasma (n = 12, p <0.002) and 445 (280-990) pg per mt in lysed cells. Median total sPAI-1 con tent was 94 (64-127) ng per mt in serum, 8 (6-11) ng per mt in citrated pla sma, and 95 (78-123) ng per mi, in lysed cells. In SAGM blood, the median t otal sVEGF content was 25.3 (3.3-48.4) ng per unit: in nonfiltered units an d undetectable in white cell-reduced units. Median total sVEGF content was 29.2 (24.8-124.9) ng per unit in nonfiltered PRP and 28.7 (24.5-118.6) ng p er unit in white cell-reduced PRP. The sVEGF accumulated significantly in W E, SAGM blood, and BCP pools, depending on the storage time. CONCLUSION:The sVEGF (isotype 165) appears to be present in various blood t ransfusion components, depending on storage time.