Angiogenesis in cervical cancer

Angiogenesis is a factor of spread and metastatization. This fact has been established for many malignancies, but the data concerning cervical cancer are rather conflicting. In a study including 42 patients affected by cervical cancer stages IB to IVA, the authors assess the mean capillary density and the correlations between this parameter and the other anatomoclinical parameters: the VEGF expression, tumoral oxygenation and the data obtained from dynamic MRI. The histologic assessment of the capillary density and the data obtained by dynamic MRI enable us at the same time to quantify the tumoral angiogenesis and establish the prognosis. The two methods could be used routinely as markers of prognosis. VGEF surely plays a role in angiogenesis linked with cervical cancer growth, but its regulation is not definitively clear at the moment. The impact of tumoral oxygenation (whose place as a prognostic marker is clearly established) on tumoral angiogenesis and vessels' permeability as well as its control is currently not clearly established. Further studies on larger populations are necessary.