correlation between soluble vascular endothelial growth factor a, its receptor 1 and response to chemotherapy in acute leukemia in children

background and objective: vascular endothelial growth factor (vegf) and its receptors (vegf-r1 and r2) are major regulators of angiogenesis. this study was designed to assess serum levels of vegf and vegf-r1 and their prognostic significance in newly diagnosed childhood acute leukemia. materials and methods: for this purpose, vegf and vegf-r1 were determined using enzyme linked immuno-sorbant assay (elisa) in samples obtained before treatment. demographic data were recorded. bone marrow blast percentage was counted on diagnosis and 2 weeks after induction therapy. a p value less than 0.05 considered significant. results: fifty-three children (22 boys and 31 girls) with newly diagnosed acute leukemia were enrolled in the study. most cases (56.6%) were pre b cell all. mean value of vefg-a in good responders was 55.13 ± 24.96 pg/ml and in poor responders it was 94.46 ± 15.75 (p0.05). using roc curve, we found out a cut-off point of 76 pg/ml to discriminate poor response to chemotherapy. conclusion: soluble vegf-a is an independent factor for response to therapy in childhood leukemia and leukemic patients with svegf-a level over 76 pg/ml will have poor response to treatment.