Vascular endothelial growth factor plasma levels in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and primary antiphospholipid syndrome

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the possible role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and primary antiphospholipid syndrome (PAPS).

We studied 28 patients with SLE, 10 patients with PAPS, and 24 healthy controls. VEGF plasma levels were measured by ELISA. Immunolocalization of VEGF was done in renal tissue from SLE patients and cadaveric controls.

Our results showed that VEGF plasma levels were increased in SLE patients compared with PAPS and controls. The correlation between clinical manifestations and VEGF levels revealed that SLE patients with renal failure had significantly increased plasma VEGF levels (134.1 + 91.0 pg= ml) compared with SLE patients with normal renal function (42.9 + 19.0 pg/ml), PAPS patients (41.9 + 26.6pg/ml), and controls (36.2+ 27.0 pg/ml; P 0.01). Immunostaining showed a strong expression of VEGF in SLE renal tissue samples. Our preliminary results indicate that VEGF is increased in plasma from patients with lupus nephritis and a moderate degree of renal failure and is overexpressed in renal tissue from these patients.

Keywords

angiogenesis VEGF lupus nephropathy primary antiphospholipid syndrome

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Colville-Nash PR , Willoughby DA . Growth factors in angiogenesis: current interest and therapeutic potential . Mol Med Today 1997; Jan: 14–23 .

Koch AE . The role of angiogenesis in rheumatoid arthritis: recent developments . Ann Rheum Dis 2000; 59: 165–171 .

Thompson WD , Li WW , Maragoudakis M . The clinical manioulation of angiogenesis: pathology, side-effects, susprises and opportunities with novel human therapies . J Pathol 1999; 187: 503–510 .

Williams FM , Parmar K , Hughes GR , Hunt BJ . Systemic endothelial cell markers in primary aniphospholipid syndrome . Thromb Haemost 2000; 84: 742–746 .

Blau HM , Banfi A . The well-tempered vessel . Nature Med 2001; 7: 532–534 .

Thomas KA . Vascular endothelial growth factor, a potent ans selective angiogenic agent . J Biol Chem 1996; 271: 603–606 .

Nishitani Y , Kubo A , Iwano M et al. Imblance between interleukin-6 and adrenomedullin m RNA levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with lupus nephritis . Clin Exp Immunol 2001; 124: 330–336 .

Ostendorf T , Kunter U , Eitner F et al. VEGF mediates glomerular endothelial repair . J Clin Invest 1999; 104: 913–923 .

Nitta K , Uchida K , Kimata N et al. Increased serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor in human crescentic glomerulonephritis . Clin Nephrol 1999; 52: 76–82 .

10.

Del Prete D , Anglani F , Ceol M et al. Molecular biology of diabetic glomerulosclerosis . Nephrol Dial Transplant 1998; 13(Suppl 8): 20–25 .

11.

Honkanen EO , Teppo AM , Gronhagen-Riska C . Decreased urinary excretion of vascular endothelial growth factor in idiopathic membranous glomeulonephritis . Kidney Int 2000; 57: 2343–2349 .