ABSTRACT
Objective: To evaluate serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) during the induction phase of chemotherapy. Design: Prospective sudy. Setting: Hospital-based study over 18 months. Patients: 30 children with ALL and 17 healthy age- and sexmatched controls. Intervention: Serum concentration of VEGF-A–165 isoform (s- VEGF) was measured by enzyme-linked immunoabsorbant assay at diagnosis and at the end of induction chemotherapy. Main outcome measures: s-VEGF was compared with markers of tumor burden. Kinetics of s-VEGF was assessed in response to induction chemotherapy. Results: Median VEGF was significantly lower in untreated patients than in controls (17.0 vs. 42.6 pg/mL, P=0.004). s-VEGF levels were fairly correlated with WBC count (r=-0.56, P=0.004) and LDH (r=-0.52, P=0.02) at diagnosis. All patients but one were in morphologic remission at the end of induction. Median s-VEGF concentration on day 29/33 was significantly higher than on day 1 (44.2 pg/mL, P=0.009). Conclusion: Untreated children with ALL have significantly lower s-VEGF concentration than controls. At the end of the induction therapy, s-VEGF increased to levels similar to controls. The role of ligand-receptor interaction between VEGF and VEGF receptors on leukemia cells needs to be further delineated.