Increased placental growth factor in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with epilepsy

Recent studies suggest that angiogenesis and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are involved in the pathophysiology of epilepsy. However, relatively little data are available linking placenta growth factor (PIGF) with epilepsy. In this study, we assessed concentrations of PIGF in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 60 epileptic patients and 24 non-seizure subjects using sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Epileptic patients in general had higher concentration of CSF-PIGF than controls (7.95 ± 0.88 ng/l vs. 5.87 ± 0.79 ng/l, P < 0.01). CSF-PIGF level in secondary epileptic patients (8.59 ± 1.26 ng/l) was higher than that in idiopathic epileptic patients (7.62 ± 0.20 ng/l) (P < 0.05). In idiopathic epilepsy, CSF-PIGF level in patients with high seizure frequency was higher than those in patients with low seizure frequency and seizure-free in recent 3 years (7.78 ± 0.23 ng/l vs. 7.49 ± 0.09 ng/l and 7.59 ± 0.10 ng/l, P < 0.05). Concentration of CSF-PIGF in patients with a disease duration of > 5 years was higher than those in patients with durations of 1-5 years and <1 year (7.72 ± 0.20 ng/l vs. 7.52 ± 0.09 ng/l and 7.41 ± 0.07 ng/l, P < 0.05). These results indicate that preexisting brain damage, seizure frequency and disease duration are important factors contributing to elevated PIGF.