Angiogenesis takes place during both physiological and pathological processes, such as tumor development. Basic FGF is one of angiogenic factors. We investigated the serum and urine bFGF levels in patients with cervical cancer in contrast to those of normal control group to assess whether the serum and urine bFGF levels are useful markers to predict therapeutic effects of the patients with cervical cancer.

We measured serum and urine bFGF concentrations by ELISA in 28 patients with cervical cancer, as well as 25 normal volunteers and 38 patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. Especially in 22 patients with cervical cancer, we measured serum bFGF levels before and after radiotherapy or radical hysterectomy with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

There were statistical differences among the serum bFGF levels in patients with cervical cancer (28.6+/-30.4 pg/ml), cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (8.8+/-11.3 pg/ml), and normal control group (5.2+/-6.2 pg/ml) (p<0.05). Patients undergoing cancer therapy had lower values than those without cancer therapy (p<0.05).

Serum bFGF may help in diagnosing and predicting the therapeutic effects of the patients with cervical cancer. So we suggest that serum bFGF may be useful as a dignostic and prognostic factor in cervical cancers.