ABSTRACT
Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels, is necessary for tumour growth. The aim of this study was to quantify the sensitivity of five endothelial cell markers CD31/CD34-mix, CD31, CD34, lectin UEA-1 and FVIII-rag. Paraffin-embedded tumour tissue from 15 patients with astrocytomas grades II-IV and oligodendrogliomas grades II-III was used Sections of 2 microm were stained. Seven serial sections from each of the 15 tumours enabled consecutive examination of the vessels with all five markers and with two interposed hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) sections as controls. Among the endothelial cell markers, the mix CD31/CD34 showed the highest sensitivity with 79% and 99%, respectively, when applied in astrocytomas grade II and grades III-IV and 86% when applied in oligodendrogliomas. The study has shown that the sensitivity of the five endothelial cell markers varied. The mix CD31/CD34 was superior and seems to be a useful marker for quantification of angiogenesis.