Assessing microvessels and angiogenesis in human breast cancer, using VE‐cadherin

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Abstract
Aims : Vascular endothelial (VE)‐cadherin, also known as cadherin‐5 and CD144, is an adhesion molecule uniquely expressed in endothelial cells. We hypothesized that VE‐cadherin may be a useful marker for assessing microvessels and angiogenesis in human breast cancer and sought to determine whether a correlation exists between levels of VE‐cadherin, angiogenic markers factor VIII and platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule (PECAM)‐1 and patient outcome in breast cancer. Methods and results : Frozen sections from breast cancer primary tumours (tumour n = 114, background n = 30) were immunostained with VE‐cadherin, factor VIII and PECAM‐1 antibodies and microvessel number was assessed. RNA was reverse transcribed and analysed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Q‐PCR). VE‐cadherin immunostaining showed a significant difference in microvessel number in tumour compared with background. There was no significant difference in the number of microvessels stained with PECAM‐1 or factor VIII; there was increased staining of other structures within the sample and higher general background staining. Q‐PCR revealed elevated levels of VE‐cadherin and PECAM‐1 in tumour samples compared with background tissue and in patients with a poor prognosis, as determined by the Nottingham Prognostic Index. There was no difference in levels with factor VIII. Both VE‐cadherin and PECAM‐1 had significantly reduced expression in lobular compared with ductal carcinomas: there was no difference with factor VIII. Conclusion : Higher levels of angiogenic marker molecules in breast cancer may have an association with poor prognosis in patients. Moreover, VE‐cadherin appears to be a preferable marker for such analysis.

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