Changes and significance of serum VEGF,PEDF,VEGF/PEDF ratio in acute ischemic stroke patients

Objective To investigate the changes of serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF),Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEGF) and VEGF/PEDF ratio in patients with acute ischemic stroke,and to evaluate their effects and possible clinical application in diagnosis and treatment of acute ischemic stroke. Methods Total 41 patients with acute ischemic stroke were included in our study,with 45 healthy adults as control.The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect the expression of PEDF and VEGF in sera of days 1,3,7,14 and 28 after the subjects were hospitalized. Results The VEGF expression in patients'sera increased during the 28-day-long observation after hospitalization.It reached to its peak at day 7 post-stroke (214.72±55.95) ng/L,which was significantly increased when compared to the control group (t=2.439,P<0.05).Meanwhile,the PEDF expression in patients'sera was significantly lower than the control group at the day hospitalized[(28.77±8.60) ng/L,(34.63±16.21) ng/L,respectively;t=2.063,P<0.05)].After,the expression level of PEDF in patients'sera increased gradually,and reached to a relatively high level at post-stroke day 14.There was no significant difference of serum VEGF and PEDF between the patients and control groups at other time points detected than the days 1 and 7 after hospitalization (P>0.05).The ratios of serum VEGF/PEDF in patients group were 7.48±1.98,7.86±2.83,7.39±2.18 at days 1,3,7,14 and 28 after acute ischemic stroke.The VEGF/PEDF ratios of all time points detected other than day 28 were higher than the control group (5.93±1.99).The statistical analysis showed that from post-stroke day 1 to day 7,the serum VEGF/PEDF ratio was significantly higher than the control group (t=3.63,P<0.001;t=3.68,P<0.001;t=3.24,P<0.01;respectively),while no significant difference was found between two groups for post-stroke day 14 and 28(P>0.05). Conclusion VEGF/PEDF ratio could be served as a diagnostic marker of acute ischemic stroke,serum VEGF,PEDF and VEGF/PEDF ratio might play an important role in the pathological process of acute ischemic stroke.