Vessel density assessed by endoglin expression in breast carcinomas with different expression profiles.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the relationship between microvessel density assessed by endoglin expression and the molecular subtypes of human invasive breast carcinomas and whether there is evidence to indicate that angiogenesis could be a putative target for therapy in specific subsets of breast cancer.


RESULTS
We studied a series of 161 breast carcinomas, but information was available on only 142 tumours. We correlated endoglin expression with distinct breast carcinoma subgroups classified according to immunohistochemical profiling. Additionally, we compared it with other biomarkers for the aggressive basal-like subset and with available histopathological data. Although the basal-like subtype has higher microvessel density, there are no significant differences with the other molecular subtypes of breast cancer.


CONCLUSIONS
This study found no significant differences in tumour vascularity in different molecular subtypes of breast cancer.
Lopes
Nair
N
Institute of Pathology and Molecular Immunology of University of Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal.
Sousa
Bárbara
B
Vieira
Daniella
D
Milanezi
Fernanda
F
Schmitt
Fernando
F
D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D000071063:Endoglin; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000473:pathology*; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics
D015703:Antigens, CD; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C064206:ENG protein, human; D000071063:Endoglin; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface