Lymphatic microvessel density and lymphovascular invasion assessed by anti-podoplanin immunostaining in human breast cancer

Background: The development of an antibody against podoplanin has enabled u s to selectively stain lymphatic vessels in breast cancer samples for the f irst time. Materials and Methods: We investigated lymphatic vessels in 45 s pecimens of invasive breast cancer by immunostaining for podoplanin. Lympha tic microvessel density (LMVD) was correlated with various clinical and his topathological parameters. LMVD was also compared to blood microvessel dens ity (BMVD), assessed by CD34 -immunostaining. Results: LMVD as well as lymp hovascular invasion (LVI) correlated significantly with the lymph node stat us (p=0.001/p=0.035). Logistic regression revealed that LVI was the more im portant factor for development of lymph node metastasis (p=0.043). There wa s no significant association between various clinical and histopathological parameters and LMVD or LVI, nor was a correlation found between LMVD and B MVD (p=0.121). Conclusion: High LMVD and the presence of LVI are strongly a ssociated with lymph node metastasis in breast cancer.