Platelet activation and vascular endothelial growth factor 165 release in hepatocellular cancer.

Abstract Background Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF 165 ) is stored, transported and released by platelets. Platelet functional abnormalities have been described in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Thus, this study was designed to investigate the behavior of VEGF 165 with respect to platelet activation in HCC. Methods Plasma and serum VEGF 165 and plasma sP-selectin levels were analyzed in patients with HCC (n = 70) or cirrhosis (n = 45) and control subjects (n = 70). Given the thrombocytopenia that characterizes both HCC and cirrhotic patients, plasma VEGF 165 and sP-selectin as well as serum VEGF (plt-VEGF 165 -load) levels were normalized by platelet counts. Results Median concentrations of plasma VEGF 165 /platelet (p = 0.002) and sP-selectin/platelet (p  165 /platelet at multivariate analysis (p  165 -load correlated with tumor diameter (p  Conclusions The results obtained are suggestive for VEGF 165 release by tumor in HCC. It is plt-VEGF 165 -load, but not plasma VEGF 165 or serum VEGF 165 that is an independent predictor for overall survival of HCC patients.