Serum vascular endothelial growth factor C level in patients with prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia
Martin Voss1, Lutz Trojan, Annette Steidler
1Department of Urology, University Hospital Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany.
Objective:
To compare serum vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) levels in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer (PCa) and analyze VEGF-C levels in relation to clinicopathologic parameters.
Study Design:
Fifty-eight patients with PCa and 61 patients with BPH were included in this study. Serum VEGF-C levels were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Results:
The serum VEGF-C level for patients with PCa was 3,432.06 +/- 1,851.07 as opposed to 3,166.68 +/- 1,921.2 for patients with BPH. There was no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups (p = 0.4448). There was no correlation of VEGF-C to tumor stage, grading or the preoperative prostate-specific antigen values.
Conclusion:
We cannot recommend VEGF-C serum level as a marker for tumor growth in PCa.
