Abstract
Adrenocortical tumors (ACT) are common adrenal tumors. The majority of ACTs are non-functioning and benign, while adrenocortical carcinomas (ACC) are rare, usually very aggressive and often metastasized when first diagnosed. Our aim was to assess whether blood and lymph vessel density within ACTs correlate with the malignancy character or tumor functionality. For that, the microvascular distribution was evaluated by immunohistochemistry staining with D2–40 antibody, for lymph vessels and CD-31 antibody, for blood vessels, in ACCs (n = 15), adenomas with Cushing syndrome (n = 9) and non-functioning adenomas (n = 10). The percentage of stained area was quantified by computerized morphometric analysis. D2–40 expression was significantly lower in ACC as compared to adenomas with Cushing syndrome (p < 0.01) and correlated positively with the expression of the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR) (R2 = 0.553, p < 0.001). CD31 expression was found to be significantly higher in ACC as compared to adenomas with Cushing syndrome (p < 0.05). Our results show that angiogenesis is increased in ACC, suggesting that this phenomenon may have an important role in ACT biological behavior, while lymph vascular density seems to be more closely related to the tumor functional status than malignancy.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge Prof. Eduardo Rocha, Célia Lopes and Fernanda Malhão for valuable technical support
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This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (SFRH/BD/89308/2012 and SFRH/BPD/111741/2015). IPATIMUP integrates the i3S Research Unit, which is partially supported by FCT. Unit for Multidisciplinary Research in Biomedicine is also funded by FCT (UID/Multi/00215/2013).
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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The participants provided written informed consent for adrenal tissue samples deposited at our institutional Tumor Bank to be used for future research.
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The study was approved by the local Ethics Committee.
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Pereira, S.S., Costa, M.M., Guerreiro, S.G. et al. Angiogenesis and Lymphangiogenesis in the Adrenocortical Tumors. Pathol. Oncol. Res. 24, 689–693 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-017-0259-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-017-0259-6