Tumor angiogenesis and bone metastasis - Correlation in invasive breast carcinoma

Abstract

Purpose: To test the hypotheses that pathological biomarkers including CD34 positive endothelial cell and microvessel density (MVD) of the primary breast tumor can be used to predict the probability of occurrence for bone metastases and provide information for appropriate therapeutic strategies at an early stage.

Methods: Three groups of CD34 immunohistochemical stained slices (n=60) were acquired from surgical specimens of sixty patients including non-metastasis (group 1), only lymph node metastasis (group 2), and bone metastasis (group 3). MVD was measured by TissueGnostics system.

Results: The MVD measurement results were 57.14±23.00 in group 1, 86.44±21.13 in group 2, and 126.85±47.89 in group 3. There were statistical differences between group 1 and group 2 (P=0.0002), between group 2 and group 3 (P=0.0014) and between group 1 and group 3 (P<0.0001). The strong correlations were found between CD34 positive cell measurement and its percentage (group 1, r=0.74, P=0.0002; group 2, r=0.62, P=0.0034; group 3, r=0.84, P<0.0001), and between CD34 positive endothelial cell measurement and MVD (r=0.61, P<0.0001).

Conclusions: Quantitative CD34 positive endothelial cell and MVD measurements of the primary breast tumor have a strong correlation with the occurrence rate of bone metastases, which predicts the probability of occurrence for bone metastases at an early stage.

Keywords: Bone metastasis; Breast carcinoma; Pathological biomarkers; Tumor angiogenesis.