Morphometric study of tumor angiogenesis as a new prognostic factor in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients

Pathol Oncol Res. 2000;6(3):210-6. doi: 10.1007/BF03032375.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the possible prognostic significance of tumor angiogenesis (TA) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients. Fifty-five NPC patients were evaluated in relation to survival. Endothelial cells were immunohistochemically stained with anti-von Willebrand factor (F-VIII), CD-31 and CD-34 antibodies, and microvessels counted in the most active areas of tumor neovascularization or hotspotsusing both a manual and an automatic method. Overall survival analysis calculated by the Kaplan Meiertest revealed that both methods were correlated with a statistical significance between intratumoral microvessel density (IMD) and overall survival, using either manual (p=0.0141) or automatic counting (p=0.0117). Other angiogenic parameters studied were perimeter, roundness and accumulative area of the microvessels using a morphometric analyzer. Moreover, our results show that cases with high IMD demonstrated a prognostic significance in relation to the accumulative area (p=0.0072).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Antigens, CD34 / analysis
  • Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / blood supply*
  • Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / chemistry
  • Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / mortality
  • Endothelium, Vascular / metabolism
  • Endothelium, Vascular / pathology
  • Female
  • Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Immunoenzyme Techniques
  • Male
  • Microcirculation
  • Middle Aged
  • Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / blood supply*
  • Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / chemistry
  • Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / mortality
  • Neovascularization, Pathologic / metabolism
  • Neovascularization, Pathologic / pathology*
  • Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 / analysis
  • Prognosis
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Survival Analysis
  • Survival Rate
  • von Willebrand Factor / analysis

Substances

  • Antigens, CD34
  • Platelet Endothelial Cell Adhesion Molecule-1
  • von Willebrand Factor