Angiogenesis and vascular remodeling of vasa nervorum in locally advanced prostate cancer.

341Background: Perineural invasion (PNI) is generally accepted as a major route of cancer dissemination encountered in malignancies associated with highly enervated organs. However, the effect of cancer cells on the blood vessels nourishing the nerves (i.e., vasa nervorum) remains unknown. Methods: We used immunohistochemistry involving three specific antibodies that recognize different endothelial markers (CD34, VEGF-R2 and FSHR), and standard histochemical methods (HES, PAS, TRICHROM) to detect changes in the vasa nervorum of nerves invaded by cancer cells in tissue samples from 85 patients diagnosed with locally advanced prostate cancer (LAPC). Genes known to be implicated in the process of angiogenesis and vascular remodeling have been also explored. NanoString nCounter Analysis covering 86 target genes was used for comparison of gene expression levels between LAPC (6 frozen samples) and normal prostate (NP; 2 frozen samples). Results: The percentage of the area occupied by CD34-positive vasa nervorum...