The relation of serum Placental Growth Factor (PIGF), Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) and CD 95 with clinical tests in asthmatic patients

Objective: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease which the pathophysiology of the disease still remains to be obscure. New vessel formation in asthma is an era that is still waiting to be explained. The aim of the present study is to investigate the angiogenesis markers; vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), placental growth factor (PLGF), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1 (VEGFR-1), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2); and the cell surface markers of CD4, CD8, CD25, CD45RO, CD95 and further hs-CRP as an inflammation indicator in asthmatic patients and healthy controls.Materials and methods: Thirty moderate persistent asthma patients and twenty healthy volunteers were enrolled to asthma and the control group respectively. Venous blood samples were obtained at the beginning of the study from all patients and controls. Pulmonary function test was administered only to the patient group. Serum VEGF, PLGF, VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2 levels were assessed by ELISA, serum hs-CRP were assessed by immunoassay method and CD4, CD8, CD25, CD45RO, CD95 cell surface markers were analysed by flow cytometric methods.Results: The VEGF, PLGF, VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2 levels were significantly different between the asthma and control groups (p=0.002, p=0.004, p=0.006, p=0.001, respectively). Hs-CRP was not found to be different between the two study groups (p=0.227). There was no correlation between the disease duration and the study parameters. There was no significant difference in the cell surface markers CD4, CD8, CD25, CD45RO, CD95 (p= 0.401, p=0.184, p=0.186, p=0.127, p=0.446, respectively ) between the two study groups. However, in patients groups that have more than five years of asthma duration have a higher CD4+ and CD25-CD4+ lymphocyte levels than the disease duration less than five years . Similarly, patients that have the disease duration more than ten years have a higher CD4+ and CD25+ lymphocyte levels than the disease duration less than ten years . There was a negative correlation between VEGF and FEV1 (r =- 0.399, p=0.029) and FEV1 and CD4+ levels (r=- 0.467, p=0.009) in the were determined.Conclusion: High concentrations of the angiogenetic markers in the asthmatic patients compared to healthy controls shows the importance of angiogenesis in asthma pathophysiology. This is the first study to compare the serum PLGF concentrations between the asthmatic patients and healthy controls.Serum PLGF was found significantly increased in asthmatic patients compared to healthy controls. Further investigations on serum VEGF, PLGF, VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2 concentrations of different stages of asthmatic patients may illuminate the vasculogenesis mechanism in asthma patients and further aid in staging of the asthmatic patients as seen in negative relation of FEV1 and VEGF concentrations. We believe these studies on angiogenesis pathophysiology may help to develop new anti-asthmatic drugs.