Evaluation of vascular endothelial growth factor and interleukin-1 receptor antagonists of synovial fluid cytokines in patients with anterior cruciate ligament injury, meniscal tear and cartilage damage

Background & objective: Knee pain, related to osteoarthritis (OA) of the knees is a disease of middle to old age. The males are the predominant victims. It has been suggested that knee diseases may be related to inflammatory biomarkers such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A) and interleukin-1 (IL-1Ra) receptor antagonists of synovial fluis cytokines. These biomarkers might provide diagnostic and prognostic information to the clinicians. We investigated the levels of VEGF-A and IL-1Ra in patients known to suffer from suffered from anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, meniscal tears, and cartilage damage. Materials and methods: A total of 76 Iraqi participants were diagnosed to be suffering from anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, meniscal tears, and/or cartilage damage during the period from November 2022 to May 2023. They were admitted to the Al-Furat Al-Awsat Private Hospital in the Al-Qadisiyah Governorate, Iraq. The patients were divided into three groups according to the duration of the disease: Group I included patients with injuries for less than 6 months, Group II with 6-12 months and Group III had patients with injuries for more than one year. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique was used to detect inflammatory markers VEGF-A and and IL-1Ra. Data were summarized, and Microsoft Office Excel 2013 and GraphPad Prism 9.2.0 were used to present the statistical analysis. Results: Patients in Group I showed a significantly elevated level of VEGF-A (372.2 ± 68.95 pg/mL) as compared to Group II (273.5 ± 53.47 pg/mL) and Group III (232.2 ± 28.22 pg/mL) (P < 0.0001). While the concentration of IL-1Ra declined in patients with Group III (162.1 ± 7.036 pg/mL), as compared with both Group II (173.1 ± 9.351 pg/mL) and Group I ( 200 ± 34.53 pg/mL) with significant differences (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: The current study identified two synovial fluid biomarkers, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A) and interleukin-1 (IL-1), receptor antagonists of synovial fluis cytokines, whose concentrations after anterior cruciate ligament injury differ depending on the duration of the injury. Abbreviations: ACL - anterior cruciate ligament; OA - osteoarthritis; IL-1Ra - interleukin-1 receptor antagonists; VEGF-A - vascular endothelial growth factor Keywords: Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor; interleukin-1 Receptor Antagonists; Anterior Cruciate Ligament Citation: Abd Ali AJ, Alzaniily AA, AL-Ardi I. Evaluation of vascular endothelial growth factor and interleukin-1 receptor antagonists of synovial fluid cytokines in patients with anterior cruciate ligament injury, meniscal tear and cartilage damage. Anaesth. pain intensive care 2024;28(4):616−619; DOI: 10.35975/apic.v28i4.2501 Received: December 16, 2023; Reviewed: April 13, 2024; Accepted: April 24, 2024