Vascular endothelial growth factor: an angiogenic factor reflecting airway inflammation in healthy smokers and in patients with bronchitis type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease?

Table 3 Spearman's rank correlations between VEGF levels in induced sputum and smoking pack-years, airway obstruction, and airway inflammation in asymptomatic and COPD smokers

	Asymptomatic smokers n = 17		COPD smokers n = 14
	r	p-value	r	p-value
*VEGF levels in induced sputum*
Smoking pack-years	0.56	0.046	0.66	0.027
FEV₁, % pred	-0.20	NS	-0.13	NS
DLCO, % pred	0.524	NS	0.00	NS
Macrophages in sputum, %	-0.261	NS	0.046	NS
Neutrophils in sputum, %	0.246	NS	0.430	NS
IL-8 in sputum, ng/ml	0.636	0.026	0.673	0.023
TNF-α in sputum, pg/ml	0.622	0.031	0.818	0.002

FEV₁: forced expiratory volume in one second; DLCO: diffusing lung capacity for carbon monoxide; VEGF: vascular endothelial growth factor; IL-8: interleukin-8; TNF-α: tumor necrosis factor alpha.

ISSN: 1465-993X