Serum vascular endothelial growth factor levels in Iraqi patients newly diagnosed acute leukemia with newly diagnosed acute leukemia

الملخص EN

Acute leukemia is an aggressive disorder which need a new therapeutic approaches to improve the response to treatment.

Angiogenesis seems to be important both for leukemogenesis and susceptibility to intensive chemotherapy, and antiangiogenic strategies may therefore be considered for the treatment of acute leukemia.

This study aim to assess serum VEGF levels in Iraqi patients with a newly diagnosed acute leukemias and to find the relation between VEGF levels and other hematological parameters.

This case-control study included 96 subjects who attended Marjan Teaching Hospital in Babil/Iraq during the period from Nov 2013 to Aug 2014.They divided into two groups; patient group included 48 patients newly diagnosed with acute leukemia (32 of them had AML and 16 had ALL) and control group included 48 normal volunteers.

Complete blood count and serum VEGF (ELISA) were done for all while bone marrow examination was done for patients only.

Mean serum VEGF was significantly higher in patients than controls (643.8 ±121.1 ng/dl vs.

203.4 ±51.8 ng/dl respectively and P-value < 0.001) and a higher levels were found in patients with ALL compared to AML and in males compared to females.

No statistically significant age differences were found between patients and controls, while majority of patients (61.9%) and controls (63.4%) were males.

Mean PCV was significantly lower in patients than controls (P-value < 0.01), Mean WBC count was significantly higher in patients than controls (P-value < 0.01) and mean platelets count was significantly lower in patients than controls (P-value < 0.01).

This study concluded that serum VEGF in patients with acute leukemia was high compared to controls and a significant correlation was found between serum VEGF levels and both PCV and gender.

Key words: Vascular endothelial growth factor,Acute leukemia, AML, ALL.