Evaluation of tumor angiogenesis in patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma

The aim of this study is to evaluate tumor angiogenesis in patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma. A total of 20 patients with pulmonary adenocarinoma have been included in the study. In order to evaluate tumor angiogenesis we studied the importance of CD34 expression. Evaluation of vascular density was performed with a semiautomated method using the dedicated software called ImageJ. We introduced in our study 20 patients with lung adenocarcinoma. We were able to identify tumor angiogenesis in 19 cases (95%). Immunolabeling of CD34 positive endothelial cells provided a good overview of tumor vascularization. Immunohistochemical staining of CD34 positive endothelium cells provided a good basis for tumor vascularity assessment, and also an excellent contrast for computer assisted morphometric measurements. Also we studied the intensity of the immunohistochemical staining of CD34 in the tumoral cells. We obtained the following results: a minor expression in 4 cases (20%), a moderate expression in 9 cases (45%) and an intense expression in 6 cases (30%). The histological type of adenocarcinomas influences the architecture and branching of the vessels. The density of newly developed vessels is higher in patients with papillary pulmonary adenocarcinomas, which may indicate a possible relationship between the histological type and development of vascular supply.