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Significance of CD 105 expression for tumour angiogenesis and prognosis in endometrial carcinomas
Author(s) -
SALVESEN HELGA B.,
GULLUOGLU MINE G.,
STEFANSSON INGUNN,
AKSLEN LARS A.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
apmis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1600-0463
pISSN - 0903-4641
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0463.2003.apm1111103.x
Subject(s) - endoglin , angiogenesis , medicine , metastasis , stage (stratigraphy) , endometrial cancer , carcinoma , oncology , pathology , cancer , biology , stem cell , paleontology , genetics , cd34
Angiogenesis is a key process in tumour growth and metastasis, and Factor‐VIII microvascular density has been found to influence prognosis among endometrial carcinoma patients. The CD105/endoglin antibody has been reported to preferentially bind to activated endothelial cells in tissues participating in angiogenesis, and we therefore wanted to compare the prognostic significance of CD105/endoglin to that of Factor‐VIII. In a population‐based endometrial carcinoma study with long (median 11.5 years) and complete patient follow‐up, mean intratumour microvascular density (MVD) assessed using CD105/endoglin was investigated and compared with previous data for MVD assessed using Factor‐VIII. MVD by CD105/endoglin was significantly correlated with MVD by Factor‐VIII (p=0.001). However, tumours within the two groups defined by the upper and lower quartiles for CD105/endoglin‐MVD were both significantly more often metastatic (FIGO‐stage III/IV; p=0.03), with high tumour cell proliferation by Ki67 (p=0.007) and with reduced survival (p=0.036) as compared with the intermediate groups. In Cox regression analysis, CD105/endoglin‐MVD showed independent prognostic influence when analysed together with patient age, FIGO stage, histologic subtype, histologic grade and Factor‐VIII‐MVD, while the latter lost its prognostic impact when CD105/endoglin was included. In the subgroup with high MVD, there was a tendency towards improved response to radiation therapy. In conclusion, CD105/endoglin‐MVD is significantly associated with FIGO stage, tumour proliferation and prognosis in endometrial carcinoma, indicating that this is a better angiogenic marker in these tumours.