Elsevier

Urology

Volume 57, Issue 2, February 2001, Pages 376-381
Urology

Basic science
Immunohistochemical localization of platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor expression and its relation to angiogenesis in prostate

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0090-4295(00)00907-9Get rights and content

Abstract

Objectives. Tumor angiogenesis has been reported as a predictor for prognosis in patients with prostate cancer. The aim of this study was to determine the localization of one angiogenic factor, platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-ECGF), in benign and malignant prostatic tissues and the correlation between PD-ECGF expression and microvessel density (MVD) in prostate cancer.

Methods. Forty cases of prostate cancer, 3 cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia, and 5 young autopsy cases without prostatic disease were processed with immunohistochemistry, using an anti-PD-ECGF antibody and anti-factor VIII-related antigen antibody. The PD-ECGF expression intensity and MVD were evaluated in each case.

Results. In the 40 cases with prostate cancer, the expression of PD-ECGF was noted in the stromal cells within cancer tissues in 80% of cases. Additionally, noncancerous glands next to cancer lesions were positive for PD-ECGF in 85% of cases. However, cancer cells were negative for PD-ECGF in all cases. In the 8 cases without cancer, both the prostatic glands and their surrounding stroma were positive for PD-ECGF only when they were accompanied by inflammation. There was a significant positive correlation (r = 0.636, P <0.001) between the intensity of PD-ECGF expression and MVD. MVD was significantly different when comparing the intensity of PD-ECGF expression of grade 0 versus grade 1 (P <0.05), grade 1 versus grade 2 (P <0.05), and grade 0 versus grade 2 (P <0.01).

Conclusions. This study suggested that PD-ECGF expression in the stromal cells within cancer tissues might play an important role in tumor angiogenesis in prostate cancer.

Section snippets

Material and methods

We investigated 40 prostate cancer cases comprised of 31 radical prostatectomy specimens obtained from patients with clinically organ-confined prostate cancer and 9 prostate needle biopsy specimens from patients with bone metastasis. In addition, 8 noncancerous prostatic specimens, including 3 subcapsular prostatectomy specimens from patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and 5 prostates without prostatic diseases obtained from young autopsy cases, were studied. All samples were

Results

In prostate cancer cases, PD-ECGF was expressed in the stromal cells within cancer tissues in 32 (80%) of the 40 cases (Fig. 1A,B). There were no differences in the intensity of PD-ECGF expression between cancer tissues with scant stroma and those with abundant stroma. The PD-ECGF-positive stromal cells consisted of fibroblasts, lymphocytes, macrophages, endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, and Schwann cells (Table I). However, cancer cells were almost negative for PD-ECGF (Fig. 1A,B). The

Comment

Our results showed that PD-ECGF was expressed in the stromal cells within cancer tissues, including fibroblasts, lymphocytes, macrophages, endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, and Schwann cells, in 80% of the 40 prostate cancer cases. However, almost all of the prostate cancer cells had negative expression of PD-ECGF. It has been reported in breast,21 colon,22 and lung cancers23 that noncancerous stromal cells, in addition to cancer cells, express PD-ECGF. Takahashi et al.,24 however,

Conclusions

In this study, we concluded that expression of PD-ECGF in the stromal cells within cancer tissues was significantly associated with tumor vascularity and that it might play an important role in tumor angiogenesis and distant metastasis in prostate cancer.

Acknowledgements

To Nippon Roche Co. Ltd. for kindly providing the antibody against PD-ECGF, 654-1.

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    Partially supported by a Grant-in-Aid (No. 11770096) for Encouragement of Young Scientists from the Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture of Japan.

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