RÉSUMÉ
The relationship between the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and microvascular density (MVD) marked by CD105 (CD105-MVD),and that between CD105-MVD and the clinicopathological characteristics of primary pterygium were investigated.The streptavidin-biotin complex (SABC) immunohistochemical staining in paraffin-embedded tissues was used to detect the expression of VEGF in 23 cases of primary pterygia and 7 normal conjunctival specimens.The antibody against CD105 was used to display vascular endothelial cells,and MVD was examined by counting the CDl05-positive vascular endothelial cells.The correlations of VEGF and CD105-MVD,and those of CD105-MVD and clinicopathological data were analyzed by using SPSS 12.0.The expression of VEGF was significantly increased in epithelia (P=0.000),endothelia and stroma cells (P=0.005) in primary pterygia as compared with normal conjunctivae.The CD105-MVD in pterygia (mean 19.22±6.68) was higher than that in normal conjunctivae (mean 4.00±2.15,P=0.000).MVD in pterygia was significantly associated with the Tan classification (P=0.000) and the VEGF expression level in the stroma (P=0.020),but not with sex (P=0.61),age (P=0.150) or the VEGF expression level in the epithelia (P=0.518).Our results suggest that over-expression of VEGF and high CD105-MVD in primary pterygium may contribute to the progression by increasing angiogenesis and growth of primary pterygium.