Adenoid cystic carcinoma and polymorphous adenocarcinoma are two malignant salivary gland tumors which have dissimilar clinical behavior despite overlapping histological features. To explain their different clinical behavior especially their different metastatic potential, we compared epithelial mesenchymal transition among the cancer cells as well as the presence of cancer-associated fibroblasts and angiogenesis as two major components of the tumor microenvironment. 22 cases of adenoid cystic carcinoma and 16 cases of polymorphous adenocarcinoma were collected. We used immunohistochemical expression of E-cadherin and Vimentin to assess epithelial mesenchymal transition. The immunohistochemical expression of α-SMA in non-vascular stromal cells and CD105 was used to define cancer-associated fibroblasts and intra-tumoral microvessel density, respectively. Among epithelial mesenchymal transition markers, there was no significant difference in E-cadherin and Vimentin expression between polymorphous adenocarcinoma and adenoid cystic carcinoma (p = 0.114, p = 0.064, respectively). Regarding the stromal components, both markers showed higher expression in adenoid cystic carcinoma (p = 0.003 for CD105 and p = 0.045 for α-SMA). A positive correlation was seen between stromal α-SMA positive cells and intra-tumoral microvessel density in adenoid cystic carcinoma (0.025), though such a relationship was not detected in polymorphous adenocarcinoma (p = 0.702). The different clinical behavior of adenoid cystic carcinoma and polymorphous adenocarcinoma may be explained by the larger number of cancer-associated fibroblasts and microvessel density in adenoid cystic carcinoma.

腺样囊性癌和多形性腺癌是两种恶性唾液腺肿瘤，尽管组织学特征重叠，但具有不同的临床表现。为了解释它们不同的临床行为，尤其是它们不同的转移潜能，我们比较了癌细胞之间的上皮间充质转化以及癌症相关成纤维细胞的存在和血管生成作为肿瘤微环境的两个主要组成部分。收集腺样囊性癌22例，多形性腺癌16例。我们使用 E-钙粘蛋白和波形蛋白的免疫组织化学表达来评估上皮间充质转化。α的免疫组化表达非血管基质细胞中的 -SMA 和 CD105 分别用于定义与癌症相关的成纤维细胞和肿瘤内微血管密度。在上皮间充质转化标志物中，多形性腺癌和腺样囊性癌的 E-cadherin 和 Vimentin 表达无显着差异（分别为p  = 0.114、p  = 0.064）。关于基质成分，两种标记物在腺样囊性癌中均表现出较高的表达（ CD105 p = 0.003  ，α- SMA p = 0.045 ）。间质α之间呈正相关-SMA 阳性细胞和腺样囊性癌中的肿瘤内微血管密度 (0.025)，尽管在多形性腺癌中未检测到这种关系 ( p  = 0.702)。腺样囊性癌和多形性腺癌的不同临床行为可能是由于腺样囊性癌中大量的癌相关成纤维细胞和微血管密度。