VEGF in aqueous humor of eyes with uveal melanoma

Purpose To analyze in uveal melanomas (UM) the expression of angiogenic factors in pre- and post-treatment neovascular glaucomas (NVG). To study Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF-A; VEGFxxxb) and interleukin 8 (IL-8) levels in the aqueous humor of eyes with UM prior to treatment. Methods The cytokines rates in UM have been studied by performing anterior chamber tap. In a few cases, we also analyzed these rates both in vitreous (V) and aqueous (A) humors to compare their concentrations. In addition, some control measurements were made. The concentrations were determined using dedicated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits (ELISA) with a threshold of 5pg/ml. Results We have found no VEGF-A in A humor of control patients. Regarding our samples, virtually no VEGFxxxb isoforms were detected in V and A humors. Moreover, production of cytokine IL-8 was found in a few tumors producing or not VEGF. In the first series on patients with NVG, we have collected 11 samples of A humor and 5 of V humor. The VEGF-A concentrations between A and V humor were nearly equivalent. Concerning A humor samples, VEGF-A levels were ranged from 70.1 to 5680 pg/ml. The second series was obtained with A humor samples from 31 UM eyes prior to treatment. VEGF-A levels were ranged from undetectable to 1532 pg/ml. The correlation between VEGF-A levels and the different tumor features was studied. In both series, the highest rates of VEGF-A were found in A humor of NVG UM eyes. Conclusion VEGF-A and IL-8 can be produced in the context of UM. However, their expression is not systematic. Our results suggest that VEGF determination should be determined prior to anti-VEGF therapy in order to prevent post-protontherapy complications or to improve protontherapy efficiency.