Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology (Apr 2017)

Tryptase mast cell density, protease-activated receptor-2 microvascular density, and classical microvascular density evaluation in gastric cancer patients undergoing surgery: possible translational relevance

  • Michele Ammendola,
  • Rosario Sacco,
  • Giuseppina Vescio,
  • Valeria Zuccalà,
  • Maria Luposella,
  • Rosa Patruno,
  • Nicola Zizzo,
  • Claudia Gadaleta,
  • Ilaria Marech,
  • Roberta Ruggieri,
  • Ibrahim Furkan Kocak,
  • Taner Ozgurtas,
  • Cosmo Damiano Gadaleta,
  • Giuseppe Sammarco,
  • Girolamo Ranieri

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/1756283X16673981
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10

Abstract

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Background: Mast cells (MCs) can stimulate angiogenesis, releasing several proangiogenic cytokines stored in their cytoplasm. In particular, MCs can release tryptase, a potent in vivo and in vitro proangiogenic factor via protease-activated receptor-2 (PAR-2) activation and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphorylation. Nevertheless, no data are available concerning the relationship among tryptase MC density (TMCD), endothelial cells (ECs) positive to PAR-2 microvascular density (PAR-2-MVD) and classical MVD (C-MVD) in gastric cancer (GC) angiogenesis. Methods: In this study, we analyzed the correlation of TMCD, PAR-2-MVD, C-MVD with each other and with the main clinicopathological features in GC patients who underwent surgery. A series of 77 GC patients with stage T 2-3 N 2-3 M 0 (classified by the American Joint Committee on Cancer for Gastric Cancer, 7th edition) were selected and then underwent surgery. Results: Tumour tissue samples were evaluated by mean of immunohistochemistry and image analysis methods in terms of numbers of TMCD, PAR-2-MVD and C-MVD. A significant correlation between the TMCD, PAR-2-MVD and C-MVD groups with each other was found by Pearson t -test analysis ( r ranged from 0.64 to 0.76; p value ranged from 0.02 to 0.03). There was no other significant correlation between the above parameters and clinicopathological features. Conclusions: Our in vivo preliminary data suggest that TMCD and PAR-2-MVD may play a role in GC angiogenesis and they could be further evaluated as a target of antiangiogenic therapy.