# Serum vascular endothelial growth factor has diagnostic and prognostic significance in ulcerative colitis

## TL;DR

This study shows that elevated levels of sVEGF and SCP in blood can help diagnose and predict outcomes in ulcerative colitis patients.

## Contribution

The study demonstrates the diagnostic and prognostic value of serum VEGF in ulcerative colitis.

## Key findings

- sVEGF and SCP levels were significantly higher in UC patients compared to healthy controls.
- sVEGF and SCP strongly correlate with each other and with disease severity scores in UC.
- sVEGF and SCP may serve as useful biomarkers for UC diagnosis and monitoring.

## Abstract

In ulcerative colitis (UC), serum vascular endothelial growth factor (sVEGF) concentrations are elevated and there are conflicting results about serum calprotectin (SCP) and sVEGF as biomarkers. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between sVEGF and SCP levels in UC patients and the associations of these molecules with the phenotypes of UC.

This prospective case-control study included 60 UC patients and 30 healthy controls. The Mayo Clinical Score (MCS) was used to evaluate patients’ clinical features and the Mayo Endoscopic Score (MES) was used to evaluate endoscopic features of the cases. The method proposed by Truelove and Richards was applied in calculating the histology activity index (HAI). Human sVEGF (Cat.E0080Hu) and human calprotectin (Cat.E4010Hu) kits were used for the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) measurements of sVEGF and SCP levels.

The median sVEGF and SCP levels were higher in the patient group compared to the healthy control group [2139 ng/L (126–5783) vs. 888 ng/L (715–5270), p = 0.002 and 932 ng/L (99–2648) vs. 80 ng/L (56–920), p < 0.001, respectively]. There was a strong correlation between SCP and sVEGF values (rho = 0.819, p < 0.001). The MCS, MES, and HAI values were positively correlated with sVEGF and SCP concentrations.

sVEGF and SCP may be valuable auxiliary biomarkers for UC.