Neoangiogenesis in cervical cancer: focus on CD34 assessment.

ABSTRACT

UNLABELLED 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.