Angiogenesis in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Many retrospective studies have recently shown that microvessel density could represent a valid independent prognostic factor for overall survival and disease-free survival for primary tumours. The fact that oral tumours with a higher microvessel density showed a tendency to present distant metastasis and a bad prognosis, suggested that angiogenetic activity would play a pivotal role also in oral carcinomas, exerting a negative effect on the clinical course and representing an independent negative prognostic factor also for this type of tumour. Based on these results, microvessel density was evaluated, in the present study, in 64 cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity, using immunohistochemical analysis with anti-CD34 monoclonal antibody. Possible correlations between microvessel density and clinico-pathological parameters were analysed, such as: age, sex, tumour localization and size, TNM stage and histological grading. Statistical analysis has shown that microvessel density differs in the 3 histological groups (G1, G2, G3) (p = 0.0331), and between node-positive and node-negative patients (p < 0.0001). No statistical correlation was observed between microvessel density and other clinical parameters such as age, sex, tumour site and size.