Heterogeneity of malignant non-Hodgkin lymphoma-associated blood vessels.

The present study described for the first time a high heterogeneity of blood vessels in non-Hodgkin lymphomas (nHL). The tumor blood vessels were highlighted with CD105÷smooth muscle actin (SMA) and CD34/SMA double immunostaining. For both follicular and diffuse types of lymphomas, more than 85% of CD34/SMA positive vessels were of immature and intermediate type. A percent of 96.54 from CD105/SMA assessed blood vessels were of activated and mature activated types with high expression of CD105 on endothelial cells of newly formed blood vessels. Our results suggest that these types of vessels are potential therapeutic targets for antivascular therapy.