Published online May 21, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i19.6018
Peer-review started: September 29, 2014
First decision: December 2, 2014
Revised: December 20, 2014
Accepted: March 19, 2015
Article in press: March 19, 2015
Published online: May 21, 2015
Processing time: 236 Days and 16 Hours
AIM: To evaluate vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and tryptase in hepatocellular cancer (HCC) before and after trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE).
METHODS: VEGF and tryptase serum concentrations were assessed from 71 unresectable HCC patients before and after hepatic TACE performed by binding DC-Beads® to doxorubicin. VEGF levels were examined for each serum sample using the Quantikine Human VEGF-enzyme-linked immuno-absorbent assay (ELISA), whereas tryptase serum concentrations were assessed for each serum sample by means of fluoro-enzyme immunoassay (FEIA) using the Uni-CAP100 tool. Differences between serum VEGF and tryptase values before and after TACE were evaluated using Student t test. Person's correlation was used to assess the degree of association between the two variables.
RESULTS: VEGF levels and serum tryptase in HCC patients before TACE had a mean value and standard deviation (SD) of 114.31 ± 79.58 pg/mL and 8.13 ± 3.61 μg/L, respectively. The mean levels and SD of VEGF levels and serum tryptase in HCC patients after TACE were 238.14 ± 109.41 pg/mL and 4.02 ± 3.03 μg/L. The changes between the mean values of concentration of VEGF and tryptase before treatment and after treatment was statistically significant (P < 0.000231 and P < 0.00124, by Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney respectively). A significant correlation between VEGF levels before and after TACE and between tryptase levels before and after TACE was demonstrated (r = 0.68, P = 0.003; r = 0.84, P = 0.000 respectively).
CONCLUSION: Our pilot results suggest that the higher serum VEGF levels and the lower tryptase levels following TACE may be potential biomarkers changing in response to therapy.
Core tip: Experimental data suggest that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and tryptase play a role in tumour angiogenesis. This study aims to assess VEGF and tryptase serum concentrations from 71 hepatocellular cancer patients before and after hepatic trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE) by mean of enzyme-linked immuno-absorbent assay and fluoro-enzyme immunoassay methods respectively. Here, we demonstrated higher serum VEGF levels and lower tryptase levels following TACE as compared to pre-TACE levels. We suggest that changes of VEGF and tryptase levels may be biomarkers of response to therapy. In this context tryptase and VEGF receptor axis inhibitors may be evaluated as adjuvant therapies.