[Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in patients with aplastic anemia and its significance]

This study was aimed to investigate the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in patients with aplastic anemia. The gene expressions of VEGF in mononuclear cells of bone marrow from 7 cases of aplastic anemia and 12 normal controls were detected by semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The expressions of VEGF in bone marrow from 20 cases of aplastic anemia and 20 normal controls were also determined by immunohistochemistry assay. The results showed that expression of VEGF mRNA was found in 2 out of 7 (28.57%) bone marrow of patients and in 10 out of 12 (83.33%) bone marrow of normal controls. The VEGF mRNA in patients with aplastic anemia was significantly lower than that in normal controls (P < 0.05). No patients with aplastic anemia showed immunohistochemical staining of VEGF in bone marrow, while 5 out of 20 (25%) normal controls exhibited VEGF positive cells. Bone marrow of aplastic anemia patients contained less VEGF than that of normal persons (P < 0.05). In conclusion, when compared with normal controls, VEGF expression decreased significantly in patients with aplastic anemia at gene transcription level and protein translation level, it may be related to the defect of angiogenesis and thus hematopoiesis in bone marrow of patients with aplastic anemia.