Objective  This study evaluated the changes in the levels of serum vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) and b-fibroblast growth factor(b-FGF) and their clinical significance in patients with small cell lung cancer(SCLC) before and after chemotherapy.

  Methods  Serum VEGF and b-FGF were measured in 34 patients with SCLC using ELISA, and the results were compared with measurements from healthy volunteers.

  Results  A significant difference was found in the serum VEGF and b-FGF levels between the patients with SCLC and the healthy volunteers(P < 0.01).The serum VEGF and b-FGF levels of the effective treatment group decreased after chemotherapy(P < 0.01), whereas no significant difference was found in the ineffective treatment group before and after chemotherapy(P > 0.05).No statistically significant relationship was found between the serum VEGF and the b-FGF levels.Considering the median concentration of serum VEGF and b-FGF as a cut-off, the correlation analysis showed that the elevated VEGF level was correlated only with poor efficacy of chemotherapy and the increase in neuron-specific enolase(P < 0.01).The high b-FGF level has no significant correlation with any pathological characteristic(P > 0.05).Resultsfrom the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that patients with low-level VEGF or b-FGF had significantly longer over-all survival time than those with high-level VEGF or b-FGF(P < 0.01).

  Conclusion  Significant correlation was found between the survival of patients with SCLC and the serum VEGF or b-FGF level.Therefore, serum VEGF and b-FGF may be used as prognostic factors for survival and as indicators in predicting the efficacy of chemotherapy in patients with SCLC.