ORIGINAL ARTICLE Vascular endothelial growth factor and carotid intima-media thickness in patients with Behçet’ s disease Mehmet Akif Öztürk & Selman Ünverdi & Suna O. Oktar & Neslihan Bukan & Özlem Gülbahar & Kemal Üreten & Berna Göker & Seminur Haznedaroglu & Gülten Sungur & Tansu Ulukavak Çiftçi & A. Mesut Onat Received: 16 September 2007 / Revised: 22 October 2007 / Accepted: 13 December 2007 / Published online: 18 January 2008 # Clinical Rheumatology 2007 Abstract There is morphologic evidence of subclinical atherosclerosis in Behçet’ s disease (BD) patients obtained by high-resolution B-mode ultrasonography (US). Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent angiogenetic factor and a marker for endothelial dysfunction. VEGF could contribute to the pathological events in BD. VEGF could also be an important factor in the progression of atherosclerosis. In this study, we investigated whether there is correlation between intima-media thickness (IMT) of the carotid arteries and serum VEGF levels in BD patients and healthy controls. Twenty-one patients with BD (male/ female: 15/6, mean age: 35.8±8.6 years) were individually matched to control subjects on the basis of age (within 3 years) and sex. Carotid IMT of the subjects was measured by high-resolution B-mode US. Mean IMT values of common carotid arteries were 0.86±0.18 mm for patients with BD, and 0.57±0.14 mm for healthy controls (p < 0.001). Mean VEGF levels were 130.41±58.28 pg/ml for patients with BD and 82.69±25.03 pg/ml for healthy controls (p <0.001). There was no correlation between VEGF levels in the control group and in the BD group, but there was a significant correlation between VEGF levels and mean carotid IMT in the whole group (r =0.317, p < 0.05). In conclusion, elevation of VEGF appears as a feature of the inflammatory reaction during the course of BD, not a direct determinant of subclinical atherosclerosis. On the other hand, the significant correlation between carotid IMT and serum VEGF levels in the whole group suggests that association between VEGF levels and carotid IMT warrants further investigation with larger sample sizes. Clin Rheumatol (2008) 27:961–966 DOI 10.1007/s10067-007-0825-5 M. A. Öztürk : B. Göker : S. Haznedaroglu Department of Rheumatology, Gazi University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey S. Ünverdi Department of Internal Medicine, Gazi University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey S. O. Oktar Department of Radiology, Gazi University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey N. Bukan : Ö. Gülbahar Department of Biochemistry, Gazi University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey K. Üreten Department of Rheumatology, Ministry of Health Diskapi Etlik Ihtisas Hospital, Ankara, Turkey G. Sungur Uvea Department, Ankara Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey T. U. Çiftçi Department of Chest Diseases, Gazi University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey A. M. Onat Department of Rheumatology, Gaziantep University School of Medicine, Gaziantep, Turkey M. A. Öztürk (*) Cukurambar mahallesi Ogretmenler caddesi, 470. Sokak, no: 2/14, Balgat-Ankara, Turkey e-mail: makifozturk@yahoo.com