Abstract
Background aims. Pro-angiogenic cytokines can affect myeloma cell proliferation directly and indirectly through stimulation of cancer-associated angiogenesis. Methods. We investigated how peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) collection affected plasma angioregulatory cytokine levels in 15 consecutive myeloma patients. Results. Plasma levels of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) were significantly increased prior to apheresis in patients compared with donors, and a further increase was detected immediately after PBSC apheresis. HGF levels decreased within 24 h, but were still higher than the levels in healthy donors, whose HGF levels were not altered by platelet apheresis. Pre-apheresis levels of other angioregulatory cytokines, angiopoietin-2 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), were also increased in patients, whereas angiopoietin-1, angiogenin and basic fibroblast growth factor levels did not differ from healthy controls. PBSC harvesting decreased angiopoietin-1 and VEGF levels, increased the microvascular endothelial cell marker endocan levels but did not affect the other mediators. Conclusions. Our results show that PBSC apheresis alters systemic angioregulatory profiles in myeloma patients. This cytokine modulation is not a general characteristic of all apheresis procedures and was not seen in healthy platelet donors.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Norwegian Cancer Society, the Solveig and Ove Lunde Foundation and the European commission (LSHB-CT-2004-503467). The technical assistance of Kristin Paulsen is gratefully acknowledged.
Disclosure of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest relevant to the manuscript, except for Philippe Lassalle being a founder of Lunginnov, a biotech company based at Pasteur Institute of Lille, in December 2009.