Total and not bevacizumab-bound vascular endothelial growth factor as potential predictive factors to bevacizumab-based chemotherapy in colorectal cancer

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of patients

	Number of patients (n = 20)
Sex
Male	11/20
Female	9/20
Age
mean	64.2
range	28-80
Number of metastatic sites
1-2	7/20
≥ 3	13/20
Tumor differentiation
G1-G2	12/20
G3	8/20
Associated chemotherapy
Folfox4	6/20
Bi-weekly XELOX	14/20
Line of therapy
First	17/20
Second	3/20
Response to treatment
PR	6/20
SD	9/20
PD	5/20
Median number of cycles	9 (range: 5-14)

PR: Partial response; SD: Stable disease; PD: Progression disease.

Table 2 Median values of bevacizumab, total vascular endothelial growth factor and not bevacizumab-bound vascular endothelial growth factor before the 2^nd and the 5^th cycle of therapy

Time of blood withdrawal		PR	SD	PD
Before 2nd cycle	BV (μg/mL)	2.61 ± 1.10	5.51 ± 5.28	2.33 ± 0.94
Before 5th cycle	BV (μg/mL)	10.34 ± 2.72	3.98 ± 3.14	4.89 ± 1.98
	Ratio BV (5th/2nd)	3.96 ± 0.69	0.72 ± 0.25	2.10 ± 0.13
	VEGF basal (pg/mL)	376.39 ± 221.97	308.80 ± 177.76	395.98 ± 283.00
Before 2nd cycle	VEGF total (pg/mL)	457.80 ± 46.84	310.18 ± 179.17	434.93 ± 12.90
	VEGF not BV-bound (pg/mL)	122.01 ± 18.54	165.67 ± 74.61	113.03 ± 25.75
	VEGF not BV-bound/VEGF total (%)	26.65 ± 1.33	53.41 ± 4.75	25.99 ± 5.23
Before 5th cycle	VEGF total (pg/mL)	694.97 ± 19.17	304.61 ± 186.16	300.55 ± 74.28
	VEGF not BV-bound (pg/mL)	107.75 ± 27.08	106.46 ± 186.16	155.42 ± 31.68
	VEGF not BV-bound/VEGF total (%)	15.50 ± 3.47	34.95 ± 2.88	51.71 ± 5.28

BV: Bevacizumab; VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor; PR: Partial response; SD: Stable disease; PD: Progression disease.

Table 3 Vascular endothelial growth factor and angiopoietin-2 in colon cancer patients treated with FOLFOX regimen

	VEGF (pg/mL)		Ang-2 (pg/mL)
	Total	After immunodepletion	Total	After immunodepletion
Patient No. 1	200.24	205.62	242.10	270.48
Patient No. 2	126.25	140.36	307.18	312.01
Patient No. 3	188.75	182.50	662.65	733.45
Patient No. 4	255.15	232.34	388.20	477.20

Ang-2: Angiopoietin-2; VEGF: Vascular endothelial growth factor.