Immunohistochemical Evalution of Endoglin (CD 105) as Angiogenic Endothelial Marker of Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Dogs

Back ground: Angiogenesis is the process of using existent vascular bed to form new blood vessels. Neoangiogenesis is one of the hallmarks of cancer for tumour progression and metastasis. Microvessel density (MVD) is a powerful prognostic tool in oncology for assessing the tumour vasculature. Endoglin (CD 105) is a specific marker for activated endothelium. The present research intends to investigate the prognostic and metastatic potential of Endoglin (CD 105) and immunohistochemical expression in canine squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Method: Totally, 15 SCC were collected from the Veterinary Clinical Complex, Tirunelveli during a one year period. The tumours were histopathologically identified as different grades. Immunohistochemically analysed with Endoglin (CD 105) and Peritumoural microvessel density and intratumourl microvessel density (PTMVD and ITMVD) were calculated using the “hot spot method”. Result: All the cases were positive for CD 105 and were strongly stained with both peritumoural and intratumoural blood vessels. Among the different types of SCC, Grade III had the highest values of microvessel density. The study concluded that different grades have different MVD values within SCC cases, thereby reflecting the behaviour of neoplasms directly. Endoglin (CD 105) is one of the best endothelial markers to determine MVD because it aids to assess the prognostic and metastatic potential of tumours and it plays a significant role in the estimation of overall survival period after surgery.