Objective: To investigate the relationship among angiogenesis, spontaneous apoptosis and clinicopathological parameters in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC).
Method: The intratumor microvessel density (IMVD), apoptotic index (AI) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression were detected by immunohistochemistry SABC and terminal uridine deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated nick end labeling(TUNEL) methods in 34 LSCC patients.
Result: The average IMVD was (21.50 +/- 8.87), and median of AI was 1.15%. The average IMVD in positive and negative cervical lymphatic metastasis was (26.33 +/- 9.70) and (17.68 +/- 6.06) respectively, and the IMVD with positive lymphatic metastasis tumors was statistical significantly higher than those with negative cervical lymphatic metastasis tumors (P < 0.01). The average IMVD had statistical difference in histological grading (P < 0.01), and analysis by one to one, the average IMVD had statistical difference between high and median grading. Expression of VEGF had a significantly positive correlation with IMVD (r = 0.51, P < 0.01). Statistical analysis revealed a significantly inverse correlation between AI and IMVD (r = -0.53, P < 0.01). We failed to find the statistical difference between IMVD and tumor T-stage in LSCC.
Conclusion: IMVD may be an important indicator to predict cervical lymphatic metastasis in LSCC. VEGF might be an important angiogenic factor, and could promote tumor angiogenesis in LSCC. Tumor angiogenesis might contribute to tumor malignant progression by inhibiting spontaneous apoptosis in LSCC.