Distress and neoangiogenesis in ovarian cancer patients

Background. previous pre-clinical and clinical trials showed that distress experienced by cancer patients can activate the sympathetic nervous system, resulting in the elevation of the level of catecholamines in tumor tissue. catecholamines activate tumor neoangiogenesis via binding to the adrenergic receptors of tumor cells and cells of tumor microenvironment. Vascular endothelial growth factor a (VEgF a) plays a key role in tumor neoangiogenesis. objective. to evaluate the correlation between serum VEgF a level and distress in ovarian cancer patients. material and methods. the prospective cross-sectional study included 100 patients with stage i-iV ovarian cancer. the median age of the patients was 56 ± 9,56 years. Enzym-linked immunosorbent assay was used for the assessment of serum VEgF a level. distress thermometer (validated self-reported questionnaire) was used for distress diagnosis. Results. the median serum VEgF a level was 325.77 pg/ml. a clinically significant distress was diagnosed in 54 % of patients. We found the correlation between the serum VEgF a level and distress level in ovarian cancer patients (spearman's rho=0.33; 95 % ci, 0.11-0.52; р function show_eabstract() { $('#eabstract1').hide(); $('#eabstract2').show(); $('#eabstract_expand').hide(); }