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High relative density of lymphatic vessels predicts poor survival in tongue squamous cell carcinoma

  • Head and Neck
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European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Tongue cancer has a poor prognosis due to its early metastasis via lymphatic vessels. The present study aimed at evaluating lymphatic vessel density, relative density of lymphatic vessel, and diameter of lymphatic vessels and its predictive role in tongue cancer. Paraffin-embedded tongue and lymph node specimens (n = 113) were stained immunohistochemically with a polyclonal antibody von Willebrand factor, recognizing blood and lymphatic endothelium and with a monoclonal antibody podoplanin, recognizing lymphatic endothelium. The relative density of lymphatic vessels was counted by dividing the mean number of lymphatic vessels per microscopic field (podoplanin) by the mean number of all vessels (vWf) per microscopic field. The high relative density of lymphatic vessels (≥80 %) was associated with poor prognosis in tongue cancer. The relative density of lymphatic vessels predicted poor prognosis in the group of primary tumor size T1–T2 and in the group of non-metastatic cancer. The lymphatic vessel density and diameter of lymphatic vessels were not associated with tongue cancer survival. The relative density of lymphatic vessels might have clinically relevant prognostic impact. Further studies with increased number of patients are needed.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by the Competitive Research Funding of the Tampere Medical Research Fund of Tampere University Hospital, and partly by research grants from the Finnish Medical Foundation, the Finnish Association of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, Paulo Foundation, Väinö and Laina Kivi Foundation, Minerva Foundation, Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation, The Finnish Association of Female Dentists, the Dentists of Helsinki Region. We thank Eini Eskola and Teemu Honkanen for excellent technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 3, PO Box 21, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Miia Seppälä

  2. Department of Pathology, University of Tampere, Biokatu 10, 33520, Tampere, Finland

    Konsta Pohjola & Timo Paavonen

  3. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Tampere University Hospital, Teiskontie 35, PO Box 2000, 33521, Tampere, Finland

    Jussi Laranne & Markus Rautiainen

  4. School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Medisiinarinkatu 3, 33520, Tampere, Finland

    Heini Huhtala

  5. Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 3, PO Box 21, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Risto Renkonen, Karl Lemström & Sanna Toppila-Salmi

  6. HUSLAB, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland

    Risto Renkonen

  7. Cardiac Surgery, Heart and Lung Center, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland

    Karl Lemström

  8. Fimlab Laboratories Ltd, Tampere, Finland

    Timo Paavonen

  9. Department of Allergy, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland

    Sanna Toppila-Salmi

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  1. Miia Seppälä
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Correspondence to Miia Seppälä.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. For this type of study, formal consent is not required. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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T. Paavonen and S. Toppila-Salmi shared last authors.

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Seppälä, M., Pohjola, K., Laranne, J. et al. High relative density of lymphatic vessels predicts poor survival in tongue squamous cell carcinoma. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 273, 4515–4524 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-016-4150-y

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