Hepatogastroenterology Unit, 1st Department of Internal Medicine-Propaedeutic, Laikon General Hospital, Athens Medical School, 75 Micras Asias Street, Goudi, 11527 Athens, Greece.
Mediators Inflamm. 2013;2013:515048. doi: 10.1155/2013/515048. Epub 2013 May 8.
Background. Inflammation mediators related to radiation proctitis are partially elucidated, and neovascularization is thought to play a key role. Objectives. To investigate the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and CD31 as angiogenetic markers in postradiation rectal tissue. Methods. Rectal mucosa biopsies from 11 patients who underwent irradiation for prostate cancer were examined immunohistochemically for the expression of VEGF and CD31 at three time settings-before, at the completion of, and 6 months after radiotherapy. VEGF expressing vascular endothelial cells and CD31 expressing microvessels were counted separately in 10 high-power fields (HPFs). VEGF vascular index (VEGF-VI) and microvascular density (MVD) were calculated as the mean number of VEGF positive cells per vessel or the mean number of vessels per HPF, respectively. Histological features were also evaluated. Results. VEGF-VI was significantly higher at the completion of radiotherapy (0.17 ± 0.15 versus 0.41 ± 0.24, P = 0.001) declining 6 months after. MVD increased significantly only 6 months after radiotherapy (7.3 ± 3.2 versus 10.5 ± 3.1, P < 0.005). The histopathological examination revealed inflammatory changes at the completion of radiotherapy regressing in the majority of cases 6 months after. Conclusions. Our results showed that in postradiation rectal biopsy specimens neoangiogenesis seems to be inflammation-related and constitutes a significant postradiation component of the tissue injury.
与放射性直肠炎相关的炎症介质部分已阐明，新生血管形成被认为发挥关键作用。目的：研究血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）和 CD31 作为血管生成标志物在放射性直肠组织中的表达。方法：对 11 例因前列腺癌接受放疗的患者的直肠黏膜活检标本进行免疫组织化学检查，分别在放疗前、放疗结束时和放疗后 6 个月检测 VEGF 和 CD31 的表达。在 10 个高倍视野（HPF）中分别计数表达 VEGF 的血管内皮细胞和表达 CD31 的微血管。VEGF 血管指数（VEGF-VI）和微血管密度（MVD）分别计算为每血管的 VEGF 阳性细胞数或每 HPF 的血管数的平均值。还评估了组织学特征。结果：放疗结束时 VEGF-VI 显著升高（0.17 ± 0.15 比 0.41 ± 0.24，P = 0.001），6 个月后下降。MVD 仅在放疗后 6 个月显著增加（7.3 ± 3.2 比 10.5 ± 3.1，P < 0.005）。组织学检查显示放疗结束时存在炎症变化，大多数病例在 6 个月后消退。结论：我们的研究结果表明，在放射性直肠活检标本中，新生血管形成似乎与炎症有关，是组织损伤的一个重要放射性后成分。
