PMID: 15247128Jul 13, 2004Paper

Targeting angiogenesis for mammary cancer prevention: factors to consider in experimental design and analysis

Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention : a Publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, Cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology
H J ThompsonKatrina K Knott

Abstract

An experimental model developed to investigate premalignant stages of breast cancer was used to establish a rationale for designing experiments that target angiogenesis for cancer prevention. Blood vessels were identified via CD31 immunostaining, and all vessels that occurred in a 50 microm wide region circumscribing each pathology were counted using a digital imaging technique. The blood vessel density associated with terminal end buds was unaffected by carcinogen treatment, whereas vessel density was higher in intraductal proliferations and ductal carcinoma in situ than in terminal end buds (P < 0.001) and total vascularity increased with morphologic progression. In comparison with intraductal proliferation or ductal carcinoma in situ, mammary carcinomas had higher vascular density in the tissue surrounding the cancer with a marked increase in the number of blood vessels <25 microm(2). These data suggest that antiangiogenic chemopreventive agents would inhibit cancer occurrence if initiated at any premalignant stage of the carcinogenic process. Because increased vascular density observed during premalignancy could be explained by the size expansion of the lesion and its encroachment on a preexisting blood supply, by pathology...Continue Reading

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