Korean J Clin Pathol.  1998 Jun;18(2):134-138.

Changes of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Levels During Menstruation Cycle

• Kim JJ

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Proper timing of mastectomy during the menstruation cycle influences patient survival based on the hormonal changes. Tumor epidermal growth factor receptor was found to be increased in follicular phase of the breast cancer patients. Soluble form of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was found in breast cancer patients. We evaluated whether the VEGF level changes or not during the menstruation cycle in pre-menopause healthy women.
METHODS
Blood samples were collected from 14 pre-menopause, 20 post-menopause female, and 24 male volunteers. Serum VEGF levels were measured by a sandwich ELISA method with VEGF kit (R&D, USA). FSH and LH levels were measured by a EIA with AxSYM FSH and AxSYM LH kit (Abbott, USA).
RESULTS
VEGF showed a trend of higher level in luteal phase than follicular or ovulatory phases even if there was a large individual variation. In post-menopause women, VEGF level was higher than pre-menopause women regardless of the menstruation phases (p=0.04). No difference of the VEGF level was found between young man (<50 year) and old man ( 50 year), young man and pre-menopause women, old man and post-menopause women.
CONCLUSION
Only limited change of the VEGF level was found during menstruation cycle. But the VEGF level increased in post-menopause, which should be adjusted in determining sero- positivity in cancer patients.

Keyword

Menstruation cycle; Vascular endothelial growth factor

MeSH Terms

Breast Neoplasms
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Female
Follicular Phase
Humans
Luteal Phase
Male
Mastectomy
Menstruation*
Postmenopause
Premenopause
Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A*
Volunteers
Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A