Mm. Davies et al., Plasma vascular endothelial but not fibroblast growth factor levels correlate with colorectal liver metastasis vascularity and volume, BR J CANC, 82(5), 2000, pp. 1004-1008
The extent to which plasma levels of angiogenic factors in healthy individu
als and tumour volume-related variations in colorectal cancer affect the ac
curacy of circulating angiogenic factors as predictors of colorectal cancer
vascularity is unknown. We used enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay to measu
re plasma vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast gr
owth factor (bFGF) levels in colorectal liver metastasis (CLM) patients, an
d 'no cancer' controls. CLM volume was determined from computerized tomogra
phy scans, and tumour vessel count and vessel volume from anti-endothelial
antibody-stained biopsies. There was a significant (P = 0.03) increase in p
lasma VEGF level in 29 CLM patients (median 180.3 pg ml(-1), iqr 132.5-284.
8 pg ml(-1)) compared with 19 controls (median 125.8 pg ml(-1), iqr 58.2-23
5.9 pg ml(-1)). There were significant correlations between plasma VEGF and
tumour vessel count (r = 0.66, P = 0.03), tumour vessel volume (r = 0.59,
P = 0.03), and CLM volume (r = 0.53, P = 0,03). A VEGF level in the upper q
uartile of the plasma VEGF distribution had a 70% sensitivity and 75% speci
ficity in predicting an upper quartile liver metastasis tumour vessel count
. No relation was identified between CLM and plasma bFGF levels. Plasma VEG
F level predicted CLM vascularity, despite an overlap with normal levels an
d tumour volume related variations. (C) 2000 Cancer Research Campaign.