Clinical effect of low-dose cyclophosphamide and prednisone in treatment of multiple myeloma and its influence on serum VEGF, PDGF-BB levels / 第二军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the clinical effect of low-dose cyclophosphamide plus prednisone (CP regimen) in treatment of multiple myeloma (MM) and its influence on serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and platelet-derived growth factor BB (PDGF-BB). Methods Totally 54 patients with refractory or relapse MM were continuously treated with CP regimes oral cyclophosphamide (CTX, 50 mg/d) and prednisone (Pred, 15 mg/d). The peripheral blood samples were collected from each group 0, 2, 4, and 6 months after treatment. Serum VEGF and PDGF-BB levels were analyzed by ELISA. Results The overall effective rate was up to 69% (36/52) in our study. The treatment was effective in 30 patients, including 2 complete response (CR) cases, 4 very good partial response (VGPR) cases and 24 partial response (PR) cases, and their serum samples were examined for 4 times. The serum levels of VEGF and PDGF-BB were significantly decreased in the 30 patients at 2, 4, and 6 months after treatment (P<0. 01); while their levels were not significantly change in the 7 invalid patients 2 months after treatment compared with before treatment. Conclusion Low-dose cyclophosphamide plus prednisone has noticeable effect in treatment of MM patients; it can also greatly down-regulate serum VEGF and PDGF-BB levels. The mechanisms of CP regimen in MM patients may be associated with the inhibition of new blood vessel generation.