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Clinical significance of vascular endothelial growth factor and endostatin levels in the differential diagnosis of malignant and benign ascites

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Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of VEGF and endostatin levels in the differential diagnosis of malignant and benign ascites. The study included 101 consecutive patients with malignant ascites (55.2 ± 15.8 years, 63 men and 38 women) and 81 patients with benign ascites (53.0 ± 17.2 years, 51 men and 30 women). VEGF and endostatin levels in serum and ascites were determined by a sandwich enzyme immunoassay technique using a commercially available assay kit. The serum VEGF, ascites VEGF, and ascites endostatin levels of patients with malignant ascites were significantly higher than those in patients with benign ascites (P < 0.001), but there was no difference in serum endostatin levels between the two groups (P = 0.267). Ascites endostatin levels correlated positively with ascites VEGF (r = 0.5193, P < 0.01), and serum endostatin showed a low correlation with serum VEGF (r = 0.3291, P < 0.01) in patients with malignant ascites. Areas under the ROC curves of ascites VEGF, ascites endostatin, serum VEGF, and serum endostatin were 0.890, 0.815, 0.694, and 0.552, respectively. The combination of ascites VEGF and endostatin improved the sensitivity up to 90.1%, the specificity up to 87.7%, and the accuracy up to 89.0% in the differential diagnosis of malignant and benign ascites. VEGF and endostatin levels in ascites appear to be suitable for differentiating between malignant and benign ascites, which can be applied to clinical examination.

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Abbreviations

VEGF:

Vascular endothelial growth factor

ROC:

Receiver operating characteristic

PPV:

Positive predict value

NPV:

Negative predict value

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant from the 2008 fund project of the Department of Education, Liaoning Province, China (Topic No: 2008752).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Transfusion, The First Hospital of China Medical University, North Nanjing Street, No. 155, 110001, Shenyang, Liaoning, People’s Republic of China

    Daye Cheng

  2. High Vocational Technological College, China Medical University, 110001, Shenyang, Liaoning, People’s Republic of China

    Bin Liang

  3. Department of Clinical Laboratory, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, 110001, Shenyang, Liaoning, People’s Republic of China

    Hong Kong

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  1. Daye Cheng
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  2. Bin Liang
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  3. Hong Kong
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Correspondence to Daye Cheng.

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Cheng, D., Liang, B. & Kong, H. Clinical significance of vascular endothelial growth factor and endostatin levels in the differential diagnosis of malignant and benign ascites. Med Oncol 29, 1397–1402 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-011-9972-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-011-9972-2

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