AUTHOR=Khurana Dheeraj , Mathur Deepali , Prabhakar Sudesh , Thakur Keshav , Anand Akshay TITLE=Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 Levels Unaltered in Symptomatic Atherosclerotic Carotid Plaque Patients from North India JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology VOLUME=4 YEAR=2013 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2013.00027 DOI=10.3389/fneur.2013.00027 ISSN=1664-2295 ABSTRACT=
We aimed to identify the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP-1) as a serum biomarker of symptomatic carotid atherosclerotic plaque in North Indian population. Individuals with symptomatic carotid atherosclerotic plaque have high risk of ischemic stroke. Previous studies from western countries have shown an association between VEGF and MCP-1 levels and the incidence of ischemic stroke. In this study, venous blood from 110 human subjects was collected, 57 blood samples of which were obtained from patients with carotid plaques, 38 neurological controls without carotid plaques, and another 15 healthy controls who had no history of serious illness. Serum VEGF and MCP-1 levels were measured using commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. We also correlated the data clinically and carried out risk factor analysis based on the detailed questionnaire obtained from each patient. For risk factor analysis, a total of 70 symptomatic carotid plaque cases and equal number of age and sex matched healthy controls were analyzed. We found that serum VEGF levels in carotid plaque patients did not show any significant change when compared to either of the controls. Similarly, there was no significant upregulation of MCP-1 in the serum of these patients. The risk factor analysis revealed that hypertension, diabetes, and physical inactivity were the main correlates of carotid atherosclerosis (