Prognostic significance of vessel architecture and vascular stability in non-small cell lung cancer

Received 14 March 2006; received in revised form 12 July 2006; accepted 20 September 2006.

Summary

To evaluate characteristics and prognostic impact of different structure types of intratumoural blood vessels, tissue samples of 72 patients with primary stages I and II non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were analysed. Performing immunohistochemistry, 45 of 56 analysed tumours (80%) demonstrated an obvious alveolar vascular pattern with tight coverage with perivascular cells in atleast parts of the sample. After an overall median follow-up of 139 months for surviving patients, tumours with an alveolar vascular pattern showed a significantly better overall survival (OS) compared to those with an entirely angiogenic vascular pattern (108 months versus 63 months; p<0.05). Furthermore, high expression of angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1) correlated with OS (p<0.05). In contrast, expression of Ang-2 or vascular endothelial growth factor was not significantly associated with survival. Collectively, alveolar vessel architecture and angiopoietin expression appear to be common phenomenons in early stage NSCLC and may serve as prognostic factors.

Keywords: Angiogenesis, Angiopoietins, VEGF, Pericytes, Vascular stability, Coopted vessels

a Department of Medicine/Hematology and Oncology, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany

b IZKF Muenster, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany

c Clinic for Thoracic Diseases, University of Heidelberg, Amalienstr. 5, D-69126 Heidelberg, Germany

d Clinic for Pulmonary Diseases, Hemer, Germany

Corresponding author at: Clinic for Thoracic Diseases, University of Heidelberg, Amalienstr. 5, D-69126 Heidelberg, Germany. Tel.: +49 6221 396 1301; fax: +49 6221 396 1302.

PII: S0169-5002(06)00516-2

doi:10.1016/j.lungcan.2006.09.025

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