Microvessel proliferation by co-expression of endothelial nestin and Ki-67 is associated with a basal-like phenotype and aggressive features in breast cancer
The Breast, 08/01/2012

Kruger K et al. – Microvessel proliferation is a novel marker of ongoing angiogenesis and was associated with aggressive tumour features, basal-like phenotypes, interval presentation, and prognosis in this series of breast cancer.

• Microvessel proliferation was evaluated in 178 breast cancer samples and estimated by vascular proliferation index (VPI), the ratio between the number of vessels containing proliferating endothelial cells and the total number of immature vessels.

• High VPI was strongly associated with several markers of aggressive breast cancer, such as negative oestrogen receptor (ER) status (p = 0.003), high tumour cell proliferation by Ki-67 (p = 0.004), high p53 expression (p = 0.001), and five profiles for the basal-like phenotype (odds ratios (OR); range 3.4–6.3).
• Also, high VPI was significantly associated with interval detected breast cancer compared with screening detected lesions (p < 0.0005), and adverse outcome in univariate and multivariate survival analysis (p = 0.034 and p = 0.022, respectively).