PLASMA VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL GROWTH FACTOR ALTERATIONS IN OSTEOPOROTIC AND NORMAL SUBJECT

Abstract

Aim: This study was designed to investigate the role of VEGF in the etiopathogenesis of osteoporosis and to investigate its relation with bone mineral density (BMD) and other parameters.

Patients and Method: Bone scanning with Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) was performed to a total of 276 patients older than 40 years in our hospital’s radiology department. A total of 88 patients in accordance with the study criteria were included. 44 patients were female and 44 were male. These patients formed 4 groups; the osteoporotic males (MO) (group 1, n: 22, BMD −2.5 < ), the normal males (MN) (group 2, n: 22, BMD −1> ), the osteoporotic females (FO) (group 3, n: 22, BMD −2.5 < ), and the normal females (FN) (group 4, n:22, BMD −1> ). BMD measurements were performed with DEXA. Serum VEGF level was determined by the endogenous Human VEGF ELISA kit.

Results: The difference between male and female patient group in terms of serum VEGF levels was not statistically significant (p= 0.12). The difference among 4 groups in terms of serum VEGF levels was not statistical significant (p=> 0.05). There was a negative correlation between BMI and BMD in male patients. In MN cases age was negatively correlated with serum VEGF levels, BMI was negatively correlated with BMD, and BMD was negatively correlated with VEGF levels. Again in males, BMD was negatively correlated with VEGF values.

Conclussion: We think that the reason why they could not reveal statistically significant differences between osteoporotic and normal groups was their small sample size. Additionally difference between groups would be significant with larger sample size. As shown in the present study, the statistically significant negative correlation between BMD values and VEGF levels established in the male normal (MN) group and in the evaluation within the male population, suggest that VEGF could play a role in male osteoporosis.