Plasma vascular endothelial but not fibroblast growth factor levels correlate with colorectal liver metastasis vascularity and volume

The extent to which plasma levels of angiogenic factors in healthy individuals and tumour volume-related variations in colorectal cancer affect the accuracy of circulating angiogenic factors as predictors of colorectal cancer vascularity is unknown. We used enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay to measure plasma vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) levels in colorectal liver metastasis (CLM) patients, and ‘no cancer’ controls. CLM volume was determined from computerized tomography scans, and tumour vessel count and vessel volume from anti-endothelial antibody-stained biopsies. There was a significant ( P = 0.03) increase in plasma VEGF level in 29 CLM patients (median 180.3 pg ml −1 , iqr 132.5–284.8 pg ml −1 ) compared with 19 controls (median 125.8 pg ml −1 , iqr 58.2–235.9 pg ml −1 ). There were significant correlations between plasma VEGF and tumour vessel count ( r = 0.66, P = 0.03), tumour vessel volume ( r = 0.59, P = 0.03), and CLM volume ( r = 0.53, P = 0.03). A VEGF level in the upper quartile of the plasma VEGF distribution had a 70% sensitivity and 75% specificity in predicting an upper quartile liver metastasis tumour vessel count. No relation was identified between CLM and plasma bFGF levels. Plasma VEGF level predicted CLM vascularity, despite an overlap with normal levels and tumour volume-related variations. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaign