Significance of microvascular density (MVD) in cervical cancer recurrence

Abstract

The purpose of this retrospective study of 118 patients with squamous cell cervical cancer from January 1990 to December 1993 was to evaluate angiogenesis as predictive factor of recurrence in cervical cancer stages II-III treated with standard radiotherapy. Microvessel density (MVD) was evaluated and correlated with other prognostic factors. MVD was greater than 20 in 67.8% of patients with recurrence (P = 0.002) in comparison to 39% of patients without. Disease-free survival was shorter in stage IIA and MVD >20 (P = 0.0193) as well as for stage IIB (P < 0.05 ), but not for IIIB (P = 0.1613 ). Global survival was significantly shorter when MVD was >20 (P = 0.0316). For stage IIA and MVD >20 survival was shorter (P = 0.0008) for stage IIB (P < 0.05) but not for IIIB (P = 0.14). Patients younger than 40 years and MVD >20 had poorer disease-free interval and survival (P = 0.0029). MVD in patients with squamous cell cervical cancer stage II and age younger than 40 may play a role in predicting recurrence and survival.

High Smac/DIABLO expression is associated with early local recurrence of cervical cancer

“…Interestingly, a larger number of adenocarcinoma samples were Smac immunopositive (71% vs 50%; p = 0.037) (Table 1). Among the pathological variables, we found that positive Smac/DIABLO samples presented a higher microvascular density, a factor previously shown to have prognostic significance in cervical cancer (p = 0.04) [20] (Table 2). No other correlation was found (not shown).…”

“…The present study included 109 patients with a mean age of 47.14 years (range 25–73), similar to reports elsewhere [20]. Thirty-one of them corresponded to adenocarcinoma and 78 to squamous cell carcinoma.…”

“…Previous reports have shown that MVD is poor prognosis factor in cervical cancer patients [20]. Patients with MVD higher than 20 presented a higher risk of recurrence.…”

“…Microvessel density was determined as described in [20]. Briefly, immunostaining for CD34 was performed in using a monoclonal antibody (anti CD34 monoclonal Class II, clone QBEnd/10, DAKO, Denmark) with a commercial kit, as directed by the manufacturer (LSAB peroxidase, DAKO, Denmark).…”

Effect of the combination of a cyclooxygenase-1 selective inhibitor and taxol on proliferation, apoptosis and angiogenesis of ovarian cancer in vivo

“…Studies showed that VEGF-positive tissue was associated with a high MVD expression, whereas VEGF-negative tissue demonstrated a low expression of MVD, indicating a positive correlation between VEGF and MVD (36,37). The increase of MVD, an indirect marker of intense tumor vascularization, increases blood volume (38), and increased MVD is known to be associated with both evolution of disease and survival (39)(40)(41). Our results indicated that SC-560 and/or taxol therapy caused a marked reduction in MVD compared with vehicle-treated control, and the combination therapy revealed a synergistic effect on the inhibition of MVD.…”