Monitoring vascular endothelial growth factor-a levels during follow-up after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in pediatric patients at a Mexican hospital: A pilot study

Vascular endothelial growth factors are proteins that participate in processes related to normal physiology, solid tumors and hematologic malignancies; however, their role in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) requires further investigation. To better define the role and changes in vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) in the context of HSCT, we conducted an observational prospective analysis of VEGF-A expression during the early period after HSCT in pediatric patients. Thirty-seven pediatric patients who underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at the Federico Gómez Children's Hospital in Mexico between June 2016 and July 2018 were prospectively enrolled in this study. Ribonucleic acid was isolated from the venous blood of these patents on Days 0, +7, +14, +21, +28, and +35 after transplantation, and TaqMan reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was performed using specific primers and a probe for VEGF-A. The concentration of VEGF-A was determined using a complementary deoxyribonucleic acid control. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Dunnett post hoc tests. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 25. There were significant differences in the concentrations of VEGF-A between Day 0 vs. Day +28 (p = 0.009 95% CI=0.02–0.24), Day 0 vs. Day +35 (p = 0.006; 95% CI=0.03–0.28) and Day 7 vs. Day + 35 (p = 0.006; 95% CI=0.03–0.24) after allogeneic HSCT. We observed significant increases in the VEGF-A concentration during the early period after stem cell transplantation in pediatric patients. Our results provide important insights that should be considered a basis for future clinical trials of pediatric HSCT, including the monitoring of VEGF-A concentrations, proteins and in vitro analysis.