Journal d'immunologie clinique et cellulaire
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Impact of Ascites and Plasma Levels of VEGF-A in Epithelial Ovarian Cancers

Bhaskari J and Lakshmi Krishnamoorthy

In a study analysing the plasma and ascitic fluid levels of VEGF-A in 220 epithelial ovarian cancer patients, we found that the patients presenting with markedly elevated levels of VEGF-A in their ascitis fluid came back with disease recurrence within 2 years post primary line of treatment. VEGF-A levels in the ascites of patients was a better marker for prognosis and aggressive disease compared to plasma VEGF-A levels. Although, plasma VEGF-A levels did not associate with recurrence, it did associate with other clinico-pathological factors studied as the stage, grade, CA-125 levels and the serous histopathology. VEGF-A plasma levels did not correlate with increased production of ascites but increased VEGF-A levels in the ascites correlated with aggressive disease, recurrence and mortality. The results of our study show that while the measurement of plasma VEGF-A levels may be a biomarker for malignant disease, levels of VEGF-A in ascitic fluid was a strong predictive marker for poor prognosis and rapid recurrence.