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Macrophage infiltration and angiogenesis in endometrial cancer
I Hashimoto1, J Kodama, N Seki
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Okayama University Medical School, 2-5-1 Shikata-cho, Okayama 700-8558, Japan.
Abstract:
The aim of this study was to determine whether tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) infiltration correlates with clinicopathological factors including microvessel, counts and clinical outcome in endometrial cancer. Overall 56 out of the 109 endometrial cancers (51.4%) expressed distinct tumor-associated macrophages infiltration in their tumor stroma. Tumor-associated macrophages infiltration was significantly high in tumors with deep myometrial invasion, high grade and elderly patients. Microvessel counts strongly correlated with tumor-associated macrophages infiltration in tumor stroma (p = 0.0002). However, tumor-associated macrophages infiltration was not a prognostic factor. In conclusion, tumor-associated macrophages may play a crucial role in the promotion of angiogenesis, but can not be used to prodict prognosis of patients with endometrial cancer.