Purpose: Colorectal carcinoma is an important cause of mortality worldwide. The fact that tumor growth is dependent on angiogenesis has supported researches for new prognostic parameters and the development of novel therapeutic strategies. Accordingly, we sought to evaluate angiogenesis quantitatively by assessing microvessel density in colorectal cancer.
Materials and methods: The blood vessels stained with CD31, CD34 and CD105 were counted, and we reported their number per square millimeter in order to obtain microvascular density (MVD). Then, we aimed at comparing the performance of three endothelial cell markers (CD31, CD34, and CD105) on formalin-fixed tissues from 58 patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
Results: Following the comparison of the average effective vessels marked with the three markers, Student's t-test showed that the mean number of blood vessels marked with CD34 is higher than the blood vessels marked with CD31 and CD105. A significant difference that has been registered between the three levels of the T stage was found in the patients in our study, in terms of value marker CD105, ANOVA p=0.049, which returns to a value <0.05. Quick time decreases the pT stage, the observed differences being close to statistical significance. However, the result of ANOVA test does not allow us to say that differences can be generalized and not just a particular result, valid only for the study group, p=0.061 >0.05. There is a significant difference between patients with stage T, in terms of value: hemoglobin (ANOVA p<0.001), hematocrit (ANOVA p<0.001), mean corpuscular volume (MCV) (ANOVA p<0.001), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) (ANOVA p=0.002 <0.01 - significant difference with 99% confidence). By calculating the Pearson's correlation coefficient for the relationship CD31-CD105, we obtained a value r=0.440, which corresponds to p=0.0013 <0.05, indicating a statistically noteworthy direct correlation between the two factors.
Conclusions: CD31 marker increases simultaneously with the CD105, in the cases analyzed throughout the present study. The ability of tumors to maintain a high vascular blood density in their inner portions may represent a reliable parameter to evaluate tumor angiogenesis and a finding relevant for future development of therapeutic angiogenesis strategies.