Clinical significance of plasma and serum vascular endothelial growth factor in asthma.

BACKGROUND: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a mediator of airway inflammation and remodeling in asthma. PURPOSE: We investigated whether VEGF levels are elevated in plasma and serum obtained from patients with asthma and evaluated whether levels of plasma VEGF correlated with those of serum VEGF. METHODS: We measured levels of plasma and serum VEGF in patients with stable asthma or with acute asthma and examined the correlation between plasma and serum VEGF concentration with initial forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV(1)). RESULTS: We found that levels of VEGF in plasma or in serum were significantly increased in stable asthmatic patients and even higher in acute asthmatic patients compared with the levels in healthy control subjects. The levels of serum VEGF correlated significantly with those of plasma VEGF. Additionally, the circulating VEGF levels were significantly inversely correlated with the percent predicted FEV(1). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the overproduction of VEGF is implicated in asthma exacerbation and that measurement of either plasma or serum VEGF level can be a valid index in asthmatic patients. Therefore, the changes in the VEGF levels in peripheral blood of asthmatic patients can be used as a measure for progression of asthma during treatment.