Clinical Significance of Serum Biomarkers: Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-A and Chemokine (C-X-C motif) Ligand 13 in Egyptian Multiple Myeloma Patients

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a human B-cell neoplasia arising from malignant plasma cells. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is among growth factors essential for angiogenesis in MM. However, chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 13 (CXCL13) allows the chemotaxis of mature B cells expressing its receptor CXCR5.CXCL13-CXCR5 interactions are involved in MM progression. This study aimed at investigating 2 serum biomarkers; VEGF-A and CXCL13 levels using enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) in 48 Egyptian myeloma patients as well as correlation with different clinic-pathological features, survival and therapy response. VEGF-A and CXCL13 levels were significantly higher in MM cases in comparison to control group (P=0.04* and 0.01*, respectively). An indirect proportional relation between VEGF-A and CXCL13 levels in myeloma patients was found (r= -0.27, P=0.22). Alb/creat ratio change showed indirect proportional relation with VEGF-A (r= -0.446, P=0.043*). Patients obtained complete remission (CR)had insignificantly lower VEGF-A and higher CXCL13 levels compared to other patients, P=0.2 and 0.7, respectively. In conclusion, production of variety of growth factors and cytokines such as VEGF-A and CXCL13 was higher in MM patients. However, our experiment has to be done on larger sample size and extended period of follow up to validate the participation of the VEGF-A and CXCL13 in disease progression and clinical outcome.