Sun PP, Yu XJ, Wang SX, et al. - In this study done with 19 patients having clinico-pathologically diagnosed Castleman disease (CD) with renal involvement and a thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) control group including 10 patients with pregnancy TMA or TMA of unknown reasons, researchers inquired the dysregulation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the pathogenesis of CD-associated TMA-like lesions (CD-TMA). The CD-TMA group, vs TMA control group and healthy controls, exhibited the highest plasma levels of VEGF and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels. A positive correlation of plasma VEGF levels with that of IL-6 was seen, and the lymph nodes from CD-TMA patients demonstrated increased expression of VEGF and IL-6. However, a significantly reduced expression of VEGF in the glomerular podocytes was detected in the CD-TMA group as well as in the TMA control. The possible importance of renal VEGF expression in the pathogenetic mechanism of CD-related TMA-like lesions was suggested.