Elevated serum vascular endothelial growth factor in patients with hormone-escaped prostate cancer

Objective To investigate the role of serum vascular endothelial growth fact or (VEGF) in the assessment of patients with prostate cancer. Patients, subjects and methods Serum from 78 men was assayed for VEGF using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Forty-eigh t patients had a histopathological diagnosis of prostate cancer (16 local d isease, 32 metastatic), nine had benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and 21 were healthy controls, Results The mean serum VEGF level was significantly higher in patients with hormone-escaped prostate cancer than in all other groups (P less than or e qual to 0.02). There were no significant differences in serum VEGF levels a mong the other groups, In 18 patients with serial measurements there was no significant difference in serum VEGF level during either response to or es cape from hormonal therapy, Conclusions The significantly higher serum VEGF level in patients with horm one-escaped prostate cancer suggests a role in the pathogenesis of advanced disease. However, the lack of significant differences among the other grou ps and the failure to indicate either response to or escape from hormonal t herapy suggests that serum VEGF in this setting is of limited use.