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Abstract
Vasculogenic mimicry (VM), a process involving the formation of a tubular structure by highly invasive and genetically dysregulated tumor cells, can supplement the function of blood vessels to transport nutrients and oxygen to maintain the growth of tumor cells in many malignant tumors. We aimed to explore the existence of VM and its clinical significance in medulloblastoma in this study. VM was identified in 9 out of 41 (22%) medulloblastoma tissues. Immunohistochemical studies revealed that the presence of VM was associated with the expression of MMP-2, MMP-14, EphA2 and laminin 5γ2. Tumor tissues with VM were associated with lower microvessel density (MVD), which was indirect evidence of the blood supply function of VM. Survival analysis and log-rank tests showed that patients with VM had shorter overall survival time than those without VM. Multivariate analysis and the Cox proportional hazards model identified VM as independent prognostic factor for overall survival. Our results confirmed the existence of VM for the first time and revealed that VM is a strong independent prognostic factor for survival in patients with medulloblastoma.
Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest
No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed
Acknowledgments
We express our gratitude to Professor Shengli An (Department of Biostatistics, Southern Medical University) for the analysis of statistical data and Mr. Xuan Lu (Department of Pathology, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University) for the sectioning of tissues. This project was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation of China (No. 30901174), and from the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong (No. 2008B030301152).