Abstract
Vessel proliferation underlies a number of serious pathological conditions. Infantile Hemangioma (IH) is a low-aggressive vascular tumor, interesting as an in vivo model of spontaneous tumor regression. Identifying mechanisms underlying IH spontaneous regression may then help to elucidate vessel-growth control, strongly deregulated in other serious conditions such as sarcoma, melanoma, diabetic retinopathy. The present study was aimed at identifying early regression indicators within hematological parameters. Thirty-four blood samples were collected from IH diagnosed babies (20-months median age), spontaneously regressing with age. Nineteen serum standard blood-tests were carried out using diagnostic reagents; in addition, serum-expression of 27 cytokine/chemokines was measured. Samples were divided in three age-groups, namely ≤12, 13 to 24 and >24 months-age, respectively. Red-cells count, Hemoglobin, Hematocrit, Neutrophils, Lymphocytes, MCP-1 and MIP-1beta were significantly different in the three age-groups, according to one-way ANOVA analysis. The same parameters showed a significant Pearson-correlation with age, supporting the direct link of age with IH-regression. ROC analysis showed that red-cells count, Hemoglobin, Hematocrit, MCP-1 and MIP-1beta levels significantly discriminate IH in the proliferating-phase from IH in the regressing-phase. Such data indicate for the first time that standard hematological tests and cytokine serum-expression values may effectively discriminate proliferating- from regressing-IH, unrevealing early regression signs, and demonstrate that standard blood-tests may have novel unsuspected diagnostic/prognostic relevance in altered vessel-growth conditions.
Highlights
Neo-vascularisation is a key process regulating tumor growth, the anti-angiogenic approach is a useful therapeutic strategy in many solid tumors
Thirty four blood samples were collected from babies affected by Infantile hemangioma (IH) with a median age of 2064 months (11 male and 23 female, median age 1867 months and 2064, respectively)
A general aim of this study was to investigate whether standard hematological parameters or the cytokine serum profile may help identification of signs or mechanisms underlying the spontaneous regression of vascular tumors
Summary
Neo-vascularisation is a key process regulating tumor growth, the anti-angiogenic approach is a useful therapeutic strategy in many solid tumors. Investigating growth and regression of vascular tumors may help clarification of key mechanisms deregulated in cancer onset as well as in other serious diseases [1]. Investigating serum-soluble factors in children may represent a favourable condition, as compared to adults, due to the higher proportional mass of the disease as compared to the body weight. Infantile hemangioma (IH) is a vascular tumor with unique characteristics, interesting from both clinical and biological point of views. Despite its low-aggressiveness it is of large interest since it may be considered as a human in vivo model of spontaneous cancer regression. A thorough investigation in such model may reveal mechanisms underlying its regression not evident in adults, where soluble factors are highly diluted in the blood
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