CD105 expression as a measure of microvessel density in supraglottic laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma

The purpose of the present study was to examine the expression of CD105 among patients with supraglottic laryngeal cancer and to assess the clinical relevance of CD105-assessed MVD. A total of 40 patients with supraglottic squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) were included in the present study. Surgical specimens were immunostained for CD105 and MVD was calculated at 400× magnification. The rounded mean value of the vessel count in four fields for each case was used as the final MVD value. The mean MVD value assessed by CD105 in considered supraglottic SCCs was 13.5 (SD = 3.97). High MVD was significantly correlated with advanced (III and IV) clinical stage (Mann–Whitney U test P = 0.01) and malignancy recurrence presence/absence (Mann–Whitney U test P = 0.023). Spearman’s rank correlation test showed significant correlation between high CD105-assessed MVD and pN+ category (rho = 0.337, P = 0.033), advanced Stage (III and IV) (rho = 0.402, P = 0.01) and developed locoregional recurrence (rho = 0.395, P = 0.012). The logistic regression showed that a high CD105+ MVD was the only independent marker of tumor recurrence (P = 0.029; odds ratio, 6.64; 95% CI, 1.218–36.152). The average MVD was significantly higher in patients with advanced TNM stage and in patients with locoregional recurrence of disease, suggesting that angiogenesis is closely related with clinical aggressiveness of tumor. CD105-assessed MVD in supraglottic laryngeal SSCs may identify patients at risk of recurrence of disease.