Tumour marker expression in blood and lymphatic vessels of human gastrointestinal tract

The behaviour of tumours cannot be effectively assessed on histological tissue sections only, hence, specific bi-ological markers were used to predict tumour behaviour. The biological markers at the same time must provide prognostic information, necessary for the treatment of patients. The immunostaining of antibodies against endo-glins CD105 and CD34 were effectively assessed using serially cut tumour tissue sections from the colon and il-eum. The results were correlated with data from normal tissue sections, and confirmed the superiority of anti-CD 105 antibody over other pan-endothelial cell markers, such as anti-CD34 in the assessment of tumour angio-genesis. In addition, micro vessel density was assessed using CD105 and CD34 antibodies directed towards en-dothelial cells to distinguish quantitatively tumour neovascularisation and any pre-existing blood vessels. Hen-ce, tumour angiogenesis arising from proliferation, migration, and remodelling of terminally differentiated en-dothelial cells from pre-existing blood vessels were assessed, providing a useful means of approaching therapy.