Prognostic Significance of Angiogenesis in Gastric Cancer

Park, Geun Soo; Joo, Young Eun; Noh, Du Young; Jung, Phil Jin; Choi, Sung Kyu; Rew, Jong Sun; Kim, Sei Jong

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Angiogenesis has been shown to be necessary for tumor growth and metastasis. The degree of the microvessel density (MVD) is thought to reflect the angiogenic activity generated by the neoplastic cells. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the MVD in gastric cancer tissue and to examine the relationship between the MVD and various clinicopathological parameters such as patient survival.
METHODS
The study included 104 patients who underwent surgery for gastric cancer at Chonnam National University Hospital between 1992 and 1993. Microvessels were stained with anti-CD34 monoclonal antibody by immunohistochemical technique.
RESULTS
The mean MVD value was 68.5+/-31.1 with a range from 23.0 to 182.0. The MVD was significantly higher in patient with higher degree of depth of tumor invasion and distant metastasis. When a mean MVD value of 68.5 was chosen as cut-off point for discrimination of the 104 patients into high MVD and low MVD groups, the survival rate for patients with high MVD (>or=68.5) was significantly lower than that of low MVD (<68.5) (p=0.045). The degree of MVD did not correlate with the patients' age, sex, tumor size, differentiation grade, Lauren classification, TNM stage or lymph node metastasis.
CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that angiogenesis assessed by the MVD was a marker of prognosis for patients with gastric cancer.