Vascular endothelial growth factor A gene expression level is higher in patients with major depressive disorder and not affected by cigarette smoking, hyperlipidemia or treatment with statins

• Published in: Acta neurobiologiae experimentalis Vol. 74; no. 1; pp. 82 - 90
• Main Authors: Berent, Dominika, Macander, Marian, Szemraj, Janusz, Orzechowska, Agata, Galecki, Piotr
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Poland 01.01.2014
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Anticholesteremic Agents - therapeutic use; Body Mass Index; Depressive Disorder, Major - blood; Depressive Disorder, Major - drug therapy; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Female; Gene Expression Regulation - drug effects; Humans; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Hyperlipidemias; Lipids - blood; Male; Middle Aged; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; Smoking; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A - blood; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A - genetics; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0065-1400; 1689-0035
• DOI: 10.55782/ane-2014-1974

Elevated levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are observed in conditions with vessel and neuron damage or pathological arborization and can therefore be detected in chronic inflammatory process, cardiovascular disease and depression. Hyperlipidemia and cigarette smoking are two factors that have been implicated in endothelial damage. The high comorbidity between cardiovascular disease and major depression disorder (MDD) prompted us to study the effect of cigarette smoking, hyperlipidemia and statin treatment on the VEGFA mRNA and protein expression levels measured in MDD patients. We analyzed 38 MDD patients and 38 healthy control individuals and observed that the MDD group had a significantly higher VEGFA mRNA level and protein serum concentration (P=0.001; P<0.001, respectively). We found no significant association between VEGFA expression at the mRNA or protein level and cigarette smoking, hyperlipidemia or treatment with statins (P>0.05). Interestingly, patients who had attempted suicide had a lower VEGF serum level compared with patients who had not attempted suicide. The translational value of this finding remains unknown. A higher VEGF concentration may play a potentially significant role in the pathogenesis of depression, and the expression level appears to be unaffected by additional factors.