Serum levels of endostatin, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) in patients with acute myocardial infarction undergoing early reperfusion therapy

Angiogenesis is controlled by anti-angiogenic factors as well as by angiogenic factors, such as VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) and HGF (hepatocyte growth factor). Endostatin, a potent endogenous angiogenesis inhibitor, is known to inhibit endothelial proliferation and suppress tumour growth. However, to date, little is known about the pathophysiology of endostatin in ischaemia/reperfusion. To investigate the mechanisms of angiogenesis induced by myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion in more detail, we studied the circulating levels of endostatin, VEGF and HGF in 17 patients with acute myocardial infarction, who underwent early reperfusion therapy. In all patients, serum endostatin, VEGF and HGF levels before reperfusion were increased significantly compared with those in 17 control subjects (endostatin, 49.2 +/- 11.7 ng/ml, but not detectable in controls; VEGF, 685.6 +/- 150.3 pg/ml compared with 173.7 +/- 33.6 pg/ml; HGF, 3638 +/- 1285 pg/ml compared with 59 +/- 13 pg/ml; values are means +/- S.E.M.). After reperfusion, the serum endostatin and VEGF levels decreased significantly, but still remained higher than those in control subjects (endostatin, 19.6 +/- 7.0 ng/ml; VEGF, 284.2 +/- 90.2 pg/ml). In contrast, serum HGF levels increased significantly (15 146 +/- 2230 pg/ml) after reperfusion. These data indicated that serum levels of endostatin changed in parallel with those of VEGF in response to myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion, and the marked increase in serum HGF levels after reperfusion seemed to be, at least in part, due to heparin administration. Our data offer a possible anti-endostatin therapy in patients with acute myocardial infarction to facilitate collateral vessel formation.