Angiogenesis Evaluation in Cutaneous Basal Cell Carcinoma and Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Tumour angiogenesis is essential for tumour growth and appears to play an important role both in invasive growth and metastasis. Basal cell carcinomas(BCCs) and squamous cell carcinomas(SCCs) of the skin are derived from a similar cell type but differ in the invasive and metastatic potential. This study investigates whether the behaviour of these tumours could be explained by differences in their angiogenesis patterns. Vessel counts were made of blood vessels in the stroma and the body of 32 BCCs, 15 SCCs, and 4 normal skin samples, both after H&E(Hematoxylin and Eosin) and immunohistochemical staining using CD31 monoclonal antibody. The stromal(P<0.0001) and body(P<0.0001) counts for SCCs differed significantly from the counts for BCCs. There was a correlation between the vascular density and degree of differentiation in SCC samples(P=0.002). The stromal(P<0.0001) and body(P<0.0001) counts for BCCs differed significantly in invasive and non-invasive groups. The microvascular density is correlated with invasive growth pattern and metastasis of skin SCCs and BCCs. It seems that the vessels in the tumour body play a more important role.