immunohistochemical evaluation of angiogenesis and cell proliferation in tongue squamous cell carcinoma

objectives : squamous cell carcinoma (scc) is the most common malignant neoplasm of the oral cavity and a public health threat. tumor progression is believed to be influenced by angiogenesis as well as tumor cell proliferation; however, the correlation of these two factors in tongue scc still remains unclear. this study aimed to assess the correlation of these two factors in tongue scc. materials and methods: twenty-four paraffin block sections of tongue scc were stained with monoclonal antibodies against cd105 and ki-67. in order to assess the expressions of cd105 and ki-67 to evaluate cd105 microvessel density (mvd), positively stained microvessels were counted in a predominantly vascular area (hot spot) in each specimen at ×400 magnification. the proliferation index was expressed as a percentage of ki-67 positive cells. data were analyzed by t-test and pearson’s correlation coefficient (p<0.05). results: the cd105 mvd was related to histological grading as well as ki67 labeling index (li; p= 0.045 and p=0.047, respectively). both cd105 mvd and ki67 li were unrelated to sex (p=0.41 and p=0.78, respectively) and age (p=0.20 and p=0.36, respectively) of the patients. no correlation was found between cd105 mvd and ki67 li (p=0.86). conclusion: the mean cd105 mvd was significantly lower in poorly differentiated tumors. this finding suggests that cd105 mvd may serve as a valuable prognostic factor in tongue scc. absence of correlation between mvd and tumor cell proliferation indicates that these processes may be guided by unrelated mechanisms.