Oncotarget

Research Papers:

Flattened microvessel independently predicts poor prognosis of patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer

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Oncotarget. 2017; 8:30092-30099. https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.15617

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Luo Fang1,2,*, Ying He1,*, Yinghui Tong1, Luying Hu1, Wenxiu Xin1, Yujia Liu1, Like Zhong1, Yiwen Zhang1, Ping Huang1

1Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacy, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

2Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Diagnosis and Treatment Technology on Thoracic Oncology (Lung and Esophagus), Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

*These authors have contributed equally to this work

Correspondence to:

Ping Huang, email: [email protected]

Keywords: flattened microvessel, aspect ratio, microvessel abnormality, prognosis, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

Received: October 24, 2016     Accepted: January 27, 2017     Published: February 22, 2017

ABSTRACT

Angiogenesis plays an essential role in improving tumor progression, whereas, its value in prognosis predicting remains controversial, especially in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Most recently, microvessel pattern has been raised as a novel prognosis factor. In this study, flattened microvessel, evaluated by tumor microvessel aspect ratio (TMAR), was conducted as a prognostic factor in NSCLC patients. A total of 100 patients with NSCLC were retrospectively reviewed. Microvessel in tumor was visualized by immunochemistry staining and then TMAR was determined. The prognostic role of TMAR was evaluated by univariate and multivariate analysis. Most of intratumor microvessels were flattened with a median TMAR of 3.65 (range, 2.43 - 6.28). Patients were stratified into high TMAR group (TMAR ≥ 3.6) and low TMAR group (TMAR < 3.6). Compared with subpopulation with low TMAR, high TMAR had significantly high risk of cancer-related death (univariate analysis: HR = 5.06, 95% CI: 2.44-10.47, p<0.001; multivariate analysis: HR = 4.53, 95% CI: 1.70-12.06, p=0.002).

In conclusion, the results of our study demonstrate that flattened microvessel in tumor tissue is a promising prognosis predictor of NSCLC patients.