Lymphatic microvessel density as a novel prognostic factor in early-stage invasive cervical cancer

Few data on the influence of lymphatic microvessel density (MVD) on surviva l in cancer are available since until recently there was no reliable immuno histological marker for lymphatic endothelium. Using an antibody staining p odoplanin, a novel marker for lymphatic endothelium, lymphatic MVD in tissu e samples of 85 patients with cervical cancer classification pTIb treated b y radical hysterectomy was investigated. Survival was determined using univ ariate and multivariate analyses, Lymphatic MVD was also compared to MVD as sessed by immunostaining against factor VIII-related anti; gen, which is co nsidered a marker for blood vessels. patients with >5 lymphatic microvessel s/0.25 mm(2) field had significantly better overall survival (mean 91.8 mon ths) than those with less than or equal to5 lymphatic microvessels/field in univariate analysis (mean 113 months) (p = 0.0105, log-rank test), In mult ivariate analysis, lymphatic node involvement (p = 0.0183), vessel infiltra tion (p = 0.0158) and lymphatic MVD (p = 0.0269) remained independent progn ostic factors. No correlation between lymphatic MVD and various clinical an d histopathological parameters was observed, Correlation between lymphatic MVD and MVD assessed by immunostaining against factor VIII was only weak (p = 0.004, r = 0.312, Spearman's coefficient of correlation). Our results su ggest that increased lymphatic MVD is associated with favorable prognosis i n early-stage cervical cancer, (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.