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Low level of baseline circulating VEGF-A is associated with better outcome in patients with vascular sarcomas receiving sorafenib: an ancillary study from a phase II trial

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Abstract

We have carried out a stratified phase II study of sorafenib (So) in patients with advanced angiosarcoma (n = 32) and epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (n = 13). This report concerns the correlative analysis of the predictive values of circulating pro/anti-angiogenetic biomarkers. Using the ELISA method (R&D Systems), circulating biomarkers (VEGF-A, in picograms per milliliter), thrombospondin-1 (TSP1, in micrograms per milliliter), stem cell factor (SCF, in picograms per milliliter), placental growth factor (PlGF, in picograms per milliliter), VEGF-C (in picograms per milliliter), and E-selectin (in nanograms per milliliter) were measured before So treatment and after 7 days. VEGF-A (mean value 475 vs. 541, p = 0.002), TSP1 (16 vs. 24, p = 0.0002), and PlGF (20.9 vs. 40.7, p = 0.0001) significantly increased during the treatment. Treatment did not affect the levels of SCF, VEGF-C, and E-selectin. Only two biomarkers were associated with better outcome as follows: VEGF-A and PlGF. Best objective response and non-progression at 180 days were associated with low level of VEGF-A at baseline (p = 0.04 and 0.03, respectively). There was a correlation between the circulating level of VEGF-A and time to progression (TTP) (r = −0.47, p = 0.001). Best objective response and non-progression at 180 days were not associated with baseline level of PIGF, but there was a correlation between the circulating level of PIGF at baseline and TTP. Low level of VEGF-A at baseline (<500) was significantly associated with better outcome.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the patients and their families. We would like to thank all the staff of Oscar Lambret Center Clinical Research Unit (Yvette Vendel, Marie Vanseymortier, Laurence Delannoy, Emilie Decoupigny) and Séverine Marchant for editing this manuscript.

This is an investigator-initiated trial supported financially by Bayer-HealthCare France and the French National Cancer Institute (“Institut National du Cancer” (PHRC-2007)).

Funded by the French National Cancer Institute Grant (INCA; 2007-PHRC) and Bayer-Healthcare France.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Oncology Department, Center Oscar Lambret, 3, rue F Combemale, 59020, Lille Cedex, France

    Nicolas Penel

  2. EA 2694, Medical School, Lille Hospital University, Lille, France

    Nicolas Penel

  3. Medical Oncology Department, Center Léon Bérard, Lyon, France

    Isabelle Ray-Coquard & Jean-Yves Blay

  4. Pharmacology Unit, Center Oscar Lambret, Lille, France

    Christine Bal-Mahieu, Brigitte Baldeyrou & Amélie Lansiaux

  5. Medical Oncology Department, Institut Claudius Regaud, Toulouse, France

    Christine Chevreau

  6. Medical Oncology Department, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France

    Axel Le Cesne

  7. Medical Oncology Department, Institut Bergonié, Bordeaux, France

    Antoine Italiano

  8. Medical Oncology Department, Institut René Gauducheau, Nantes, France

    Emmanuelle Bompas

  9. Clinical Research Unit, Center Oscar Lambret, Lille, France

    Stéphanie Clisant

  10. Pathology Unit, Center Oscar Lambret, Lille, France

    Yves-Marie Robin

  11. Medical Oncology Department, Center Jean Perrin, Clermont-Ferrand, France

    Jacques-Olivier Bay

  12. Medical Oncology Department, Institut Curie, Paris, France

    Sophie Piperno-Neumann

  13. Biostatistics Unit, Center Oscar Lambret, Lille, France

    Charles Fournier

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  1. Nicolas Penel
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  2. Isabelle Ray-Coquard
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  3. Christine Bal-Mahieu
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  4. Christine Chevreau
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  5. Axel Le Cesne
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  6. Antoine Italiano
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  7. Emmanuelle Bompas
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  8. Stéphanie Clisant
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  9. Brigitte Baldeyrou
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  10. Amélie Lansiaux
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  11. Yves-Marie Robin
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  12. Jacques-Olivier Bay
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  13. Sophie Piperno-Neumann
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  14. Jean-Yves Blay
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  15. Charles Fournier
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Correspondence to Nicolas Penel.

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Penel, N., Ray-Coquard, I., Bal-Mahieu, C. et al. Low level of baseline circulating VEGF-A is associated with better outcome in patients with vascular sarcomas receiving sorafenib: an ancillary study from a phase II trial. Targ Oncol 9, 273–277 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11523-013-0299-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11523-013-0299-0

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