Tumor neoangiogenesis detection by confocal laser endomicroscopy and anti-CD105 antibody: Pilot study

Figure 1 Confocal laser endomicroscopy. A: CLE images with AF488 anti-CD31 antibodies expression on vascular network from both normal; B: Tumor rectal mucosa; C: CLE image showing low expression of the fluorescently labeled anti-CD105 antibodies in normal rectal mucosa; D: Image from the same patient showing microvessels in rectal adenocarcinoma visualized by using CD105 staining as a specific endothelial marker. CLE: Confocal laser endomicroscopy.

Figure 2 Immunohistochemistry on CD105 stained sequential sections from rectal cancer tissue samples (magnification 40 ×), CD105-positive vascular endothelial cells were clearly identified by their brown staining (A) and normal rectal mucosa displays the absence of endoglin expression (B).

Figure 3 Graphic representation of vascular density (microvessel density) obtained from CD31-immunostained images and CD105-immunostained images of normal mucosa in comparison with tumor mucosa (vessels/mm²). MVD: Microvessel density.