Introduction

Angiogenic activity and vascular survival ability are two distinct vasculature related tumor features that can be assessed in tumor tissues. We examined their correlation with anti-tumor immunity in a series of endometrial carcinomas.

Material and methods

Thirty-three, stage I, endometrial carcinomas of endometrioid histology were analyzed with immunohistochemistry for the expression of CD31 pan-endothelial cell marker and CD25 and FOXP3 markers of regulatory T-cells. Angiogenic activity (AA) was assessed as the microvessel density in the invading tumor front (MVDt1). The vascular survival ability VSA was assessed by comparing the MVDt1 to the MVD in inner tumor areas (MVDt2 and MVDt3). The tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte TIL-density and the CD25+ and FOXP3+ TILD-density were assessed in the invading front and internal tumor areas.

Results

The AA and VSA varied 4-fold and 10-fold among tumors, respectively. Highly angiogenic tumors were more frequently related with high histological grade (p = 0.01) and low VSA (p < 0.05). Although TIL-density was not associated with MVDt1, a statistically significant inverse association was noted with MVDt3 and VSA (p = 0.0005 and p = 0.002, respectively). Similarly, we observed a statistically significant association between the density of regulatory CD25+ and FOXP3+ TILs with low MVDt3 and low VSA (p = 0.03 and p = 0.04, respectively).

Conclusions

Low vascular survival ability relates to high accumulation of regulatory T-cells in inner tumor areas of endometrial carcinomas. The current data hypothesizes meaningful interactions between vascular survival, microenvironmental conditions, and immunosuppression in endometrial cancer.

中文翻译：

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调节性肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞在血管存活能力低的子宫内膜肿瘤中占优势

介绍

血管生成活性和血管存活能力是两个不同的与脉管系统相关的肿瘤特征，可以在肿瘤组织中进行评估。我们在一系列子宫内膜癌中检查了它们与抗肿瘤免疫的相关性。

材料与方法

用免疫组织化学分析了 33 例 I 期子宫内膜样癌的 CD31 泛内皮细胞标志物以及调节性 T 细胞的 CD25 和 FOXP3 标志物的表达。血管生成活性 (AA) 被评估为侵入肿瘤前沿 (MVDt1) 中的微血管密度。通过比较 MVDt1 与内部肿瘤区域 (MVDt2 和 MVDt3) 中的 MVD 来评估血管存活能力 VSA。在侵入的前部和内部肿瘤区域评估肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞 TIL 密度和 CD25+ 和 FOXP3+ TILD 密度。

结果

AA 和 VSA 在肿瘤中分别变化 4 倍和 10 倍。高血管生成性肿瘤更常与高组织学分级 (p = 0.01) 和低 VSA (p < 0.05) 相关。尽管 TIL 密度与 MVDt1 无关，但注意到与 MVDt3 和 VSA 具有统计学意义的负相关（分别为 p = 0.0005 和 p = 0.002）。同样，我们观察到调节性 CD25+ 和 FOXP3+ TIL 的密度与低 MVDt3 和低 VSA 之间存在统计学显着关联（分别为 p = 0.03 和 p = 0.04）。

结论

低血管存活能力与调节性 T 细胞在子宫内膜癌内部肿瘤区域的高度积累有关。目前的数据假设了子宫内膜癌中血管存活、微环境条件和免疫抑制之间有意义的相互作用。