查看文章

AIM: To investigate the expression level of plasma vascular endothelial growth factor (P-VEGF) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its relationship with the clinicopathologic characteristics, and to examine the changes of P-VEGF in the course of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE).

METHODS: Peripheral blood samples were taken from 45 HCC patients before and 1, 3, 7 d, and 1 mo after TACE. Plasma VEGF level was measured with the quantitative sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Twenty patients with benign liver lesions and 17 healthy control subjects were also included in this study.

RESULTS: Plasma VEGF levels in HCC patients were significantly elevated as compared to those in patients with benign liver lesions (P= 0.006) and in the normal controls (P= 0.003). Significant differences were observed when P-VEGF was categorized by tumor size (P= 0.006 …