Endocrine Abstracts

Tumor angiogenesis is believed to result from an imbalance of pro- and anti-angiogenic factors. Angiogenesis is an important component in the development of thyroid goitre. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) represents a family of specific endothelial cell mitogens involved in normal angiogenesis and in tumor development. Consequently, a panel of anti-angiogenic factors was addressed in a representative sample of VEGF receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) and endostatin. Mechanism through which endostatin and VEGFR-2 suppressed angiogenesis was induction of endothelial cell apoptosis and inhibition of endothelial migration. The aim of our study was to evaluate the concentrations of VEGF, its soluble receptor, EGF and endostatin in peripheral blood of patients with endemic goitre. The study comprised 91 patients with nodular goiter, 34 with parenchymatous goiter and 51 persons without pathology of thyroid (control group). VEGF, VEGFR-2, EGF and endostatin were determined by Human Immunoassay – Quantikine^® ELISA (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, USA). The highest concentrations of VEGF and EGF was demonstrated in nodular goitre in the medium level in parenchymatous goitre and the lowest level in subjects with normal thyroid. Respectively, VEGFR-2 and endostatin were lower in patients with goiter than in the control group, but without significant differences. In the group with goiter, significant Spearman correlation between concentration of endostatin and iodine urine excretion was observed (P<0.02). In conclusion, the observed misbalance between inhibitors and accelerators of angiogenesis could be an element of goitrogenesis.