Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) or vascular permeability factor (VPF) has been shown to play a key role in angiogenesis in several solid tumours including human brain neoplasms. Its expression has also been found to be correlated to malignancy in the major class of these tumours, gliomas. Moreover, it has been suggested that cyst fluids (CFs) associated with human gliomas may contain a permeability factor responsible for the formation of brain edema and disruption of the blood-brain barrier generally observed in these tumours. We demonstrate that VEGF is present in low and high grade gliomas of seven patients. We also show that VEGF concentration increases with increasing malignancy of the tumours. Although further cases should be investigated, these results suggest that the amount of CF-VEGF may be of value in the diagnosis of human gliomas.

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