Tumor angiogenesis in gallbladder carcinoma

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Neovascularization of tumor tissue has been proposed to be essential for tumor growth, proliferation and, eventually, metastasis. Alt hough the microvessel count in some kinds of solid tumor was shown to corre late with clinical outcome, little is known about its significance in gallb ladder carcinoma. METHODOLOGY: In order to determine whether tumor angiogenesis is a prognost ic factor in gallbladder carcinoma patients, microvessels in selected areas (a 200x field, 0.74mm(2)) in specimens resected from 40 patients with gall bladder carcinomas were identified by immunostaining endothelial cells for the endothelial antigen CD34 and counted. RESULTS: Univariate analysis showed a relationship between the microvessel count and survival (p=0.04), but multivariate analysis revealed that the mi crovessel count was not an independent prognostic factor (p=0.256). Althoug h it correlated with the lymph node status (p=0.044), it bore no relation t o tumor status or clinical stage. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that participation of neovascularizatio n in gallbladder cancer spread is minor, especially during the early course .