Prognostic Impact of Angiogenesis in Nonmuscle Invasive Bladder Cancer as Defined by Microvessel Density after Immunohistochemical Staining for CD34

Bladder cancer is the second most common malignancy of the urogenital region. The majority of bladder cancer deaths occur as a consequence of metastatic disease. Microvessel density (MVD), a surrogate marker for angiogenesis, has been shown to be predictive of progression and poor prognosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive value and prognostic significance of angiogenesis in human non muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) treated by BCG immunotherapy. The frozen sections of 28 non muscle invasive bladder cancer specimens were stained with CD34 antibody to label the vascular endothelium using the standard streptavidin-biotin immunoperoxidase method. Angiogenic activity was measured using microvessel count determined by the expression of vascular markers CD34.The prognostic significance of tumor stage, grade, loci number, tumor size, age and CD34 expression in determining the risk for recurrence was studied with both univariate and multivariate methods of analysis. According to univari...