Objectives: The purpose of this article is to investigate the expressions of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and endoglin (CD105) in the biopsy tissues of squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue in early tumor stages and their relationship with the clinicopathologic features.
Study design and methods: The authors conducted retrospective clinical and biologic studies. Immunohistochemistry was used to study the expressions of VEGF and CD105 in the biopsy tissues taken from 94 patients with T1 and T2 tongue cancers. The expressions of VEGF and CD105 were analyzed and correlated to the clinicopathologic features of these patients.
Results: High expressions of VEGF and CD105 significantly correlated with a relatively advanced tumor stage (P=.001 and P<.001), positive nodal status (P<.001 and P<.001), presence of tumor necrosis (P=.022 and P=.01), and greater tumor thickness (P<.001 and P<.001), respectively. In addition, high expression of CD105 correlated with the presence of perineural invasion (P=.003). However, the expression of VEGF and CD105 did not significantly correlate with age, gender, vascular invasion, or histologic grading. The cumulative 5-year disease-free survival rate significantly correlated with low expression of VEGF (P=.003), CD105 (P<.001), positive nodal status (P<.001), a relatively advanced tumor stage (P=.024), greater tumor thickness (P=.023), and presence of tumor necrosis (P=.003). Nonetheless, Cox's regression analysis revealed that only the expression of CD105 was an independent prognostic predictor for survival (P<.001).
Conclusions: Higher expression of either CD105 or VEGF in the tumor bed implicates a more aggressive potential for T1 and T2 tongue cancers, and the expression of CD105 is a useful predictive prognostic factor in early tongue cancer.