부산대학교 도서관

Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is characterized by the dysregulation of small pulmonary vascular disease. Loss of microvessels and plexiform lesion are observed as the disease progresses, and role of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) were suggested. However, the relationship of pan VEGF-A or VEGF-A165b and PH-subtypes are still unclear. Purpose: We investigated whether circulating levels of pan VEGF and VEGF-A165b balance is associated with PH-subtypes. Methods: We enrolled 54 patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), lung disease associated PH or chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) and 33 control subjects without PH at Nagoya University Hospital between July 2015 and September 2016. Circulating pan VEGF-A and VEGF-A165b levels were measured by using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: There were 26 subjects (48.1%) with group 1(PAH), 3 subjects (5.6%) with group 3 (lung disease associated PH) and 25 subjects (46.3%) with group 4 (CTEPH), respectively. There were no significant differences in other laboratory data between the PH group and the control subjects except for BNP levels, pan VEGF-A and VEGF-A165b. Interestingly, pan VEGF-A levels and VEGF-A165b levels were significantly higher in subjects with connective tissue disease (CTD)- associated PAH and CTEPH compared to control subjects (p= 0.017, p = 0.003, respectively). The sub-analysis showed that VEGF-A165b in CTD-associated PAH was significantly increased among other etiologies of PH (p= 0.018). Conclusion: Our data indicated that combination for circulating levels of pan VEGF-A and VEGF-A165b might be markers contributing to PH classification.