Despite recent advances in understanding the immune mechanisms of cervical cancer (CC), relapse remains still an actual issue and recognition of new predictive biomarkers is essential.
Aim: The purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate neo-angiogenesis in CC and its possible utility as prognostic biomarker.
Material and methods: Paraffin-embedded tissue samples from 61 consecutive women with CC were immunostained for CD34 and E-cadherin. Statistical analysis was performed in SPSS-12 software, p<0.05.
Results: Statistically significant differences between CD34 distribution among three interest tumor regions: micro-vessels density increase from central to peripheral area (chi(2), p<0.05); statistically significant correlation between CD34 expression, particularly in stromal and peripheral sites, E-cadherin (Spearman r1=-0.321) and lymphatic invasion (Spearman r2=0.455) (p<0.05) were reported. Overall five-year survival is clearly dependent on level and distribution of tumor angiogenesis among defined area of interest as suggested by Kaplan-Meier analysis.
Conclusions: Angiogenesis is essential for guiding CC evolution and prognosis, particularly in squamous invasive types.