Circulating vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is not a prognostic indicator in malignant melanoma

Among angiogenic peptides, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is associated with growth and metastasis of solid tumours. In order to determine whether VEGF could be involved in the clinical course of malignant melanoma, we studied 96 patients with primary or metastatic melanoma and we reported the follow-up of nine cases who initially presented with a primary melanoma and further developed metastasis over a period of 12–25 months. Circulating VEGF levels quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were found to be elevated in patients with primary or metastatic melanoma compared to a control group (P<0.001), but no significant difference occurred between primary and metastatic melanoma. The follow-up of patients who developed metastasis showed high initial VEGF levels (in five out nine cases) which remained increased with the course of the disease. It is conceivable that increased VEGF levels reflect an intense activation of the host immune system but the variations in the concentration of circulating VEGF were not considered as an indicator of disease evolution in malignant melanoma.