Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-A Levels in Term Neonates

Yogavijayan Kandasamy; Leo Hartley; Donna Rudd

doi:10.1055/s-0037-1612596

Journal of Child Science, Table of Contents

CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Journal of Child Science 2017; 07(01): e151-e154
DOI: 10.1055/s-0037-1612596

Original Article

Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-A Levels in Term Neonates

Yogavijayan Kandasamy

¹Department of Neonatology, Townsville Hospital, Queensland, Australia

²Mothers and Babies Research Centre, Hunter Medical Research Institute, John Hunter Hospital, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia

³College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Douglas, Queensland, Australia

,

Leo Hartley

⁴Department of Optometry and Vision Science, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

,

Donna Rudd

³College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Douglas, Queensland, Australia

› Author Affiliations

Abstract

Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) plays an integral role in physiological and pathophysiological angiogenesis and has increasingly been implicated in the development of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in preterm infants. Application of intravitreal anti-VEGF is frequently used to treat ROP with little consideration given to the role of VEGF-A in neonatal growth and development. Previous studies have demonstrated systemic anti-VEGF persistence, reduced peripheral VEGF levels following treatment, and possible diagnostic and prognostic uses for VEGF-A determination. This study seeks to determine a normal range for serum VEGF-A (sVEGF-A) in healthy, term infants. The sVEGF-A levels were obtained from 32 neonates born at term infants (16 males and 16 females) using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. No significant correlations were found between sVEGF-A levels and time of sample collection, birth weight, or gender. The median sVEGF-A level was 976 (394–1635) pg/mL (95% confidence interval for median: 496–1,318 pg/mL). This preliminary study determines a normal range for the sVEGF-A level in healthy, term neonates. This normal range will provide a tool to assist in the diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of treatment of infants with ROP.

Keywords

vascular endothelial growth factor - term - neonates

Full Text

References

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