TY - JOUR T1 - Myofibroblasts Correlate with Lymphatic Microvessel Density and Lymph Node Metastasis in Early-stage Invasive Colorectal Carcinoma JF - Anticancer Research JO - Anticancer Res SP - 2705 LP - 2712 VL - 25 IS - 4 AU - PIN LIANG AU - JIAN-WEI HONG AU - HIDEYUKI UBUKATA AU - GE LIU AU - MOTONOBU KATANO AU - GYO MOTOHASHI AU - TERUHIKO KASUGA AU - YOSHINORI WATANABE AU - ICHIRO NAKADA AU - TAKAFUMI TABUCHI Y1 - 2005/07/01 UR - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/25/4/2705.abstract N2 - Background: Recent studies have shown that the interactions between tumor cells and stromal cells are important in tumor development. A possible correlation between tumor-activated myofibroblasts, the main component cells of tumor stroma, and lymphatic microvessel density (LMVD) or other clinical parameters in carcinoma was investigated. Materials and Methods: Immunohistochemical examination of alpha-smooth muscle actin and podoplanin were performed in 83 cases of early-stage invasive colorectal carcinoma. Results: There was a good correlation between proliferation of myofibroblasts (PMpt) and LMVD (LMVDpt) in the peri-tumoral area (p=0.0034). Increased PMpt was also associated with lymphatic invasion (p=0.0051) and with lymph node metastasis (p=0.011). However, proliferation of myofibroblasts in intra-tumoral (PMit) areas was not associated with these clinical parameters. Conclusion: Proliferation of myofibroblasts in peri-tumoral areas seem to play an important role in lymphangiogenesis, and is also associated with lymph node metastasis. Copyright© 2005 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved ER -