Diagnostic study to test the hypothesis that quantification of angiogenic proteins in the blood, urine, or cerebrospinal fluid of adult cancer patients may be useful: (i) as a prognostic indicator, and/or (ii) as a biochemical marker to guide antiangiogenic therapy and possibly conventional chemotherapy. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) have been the most extensively characterized angiogenic proteins. They mediate the angiogenesis of a wide variety of animal tumors and are expressed by many different human tumors. Other angiogenic proteins such as platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-ECGF), angiogenin, and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), are also expressed by certain human tumors.
Specific aims of this study are, to quantify FGF in the serum, urine and CSF of patients with malignancies; to quantify FGF in the serum, urine and CSF of control patients; to determine if abnormally high levels of FGF can be correlated with tumor burden or risk of recurrence or metastasis; and to correlate FGF levels with disease progression or response to therapy. Long-term goals are to answer the following questions: 1) Do one or more angiogenic proteins appear in the blood, urine or cerebrospinal fluid of cancer patients at abnormally elevated levels? 2) Would an 'angiogenic profile' of a set of these angiogenic proteins be valuable as a prognostic indicator or as a guide to anticancer therapy? 3) Does the pattern of angiogenic proteins indicate severity of malignancy?
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