New marker of angiogenesis CD105 (endoglin): diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic role

Background. The well established notion that malignant tumours depend on angiogenesis to grow and metastasize focused the investigators’ ‘interest on tumour vasculature’ into visualization and validation. Panendothelial markers (CD31, CD34, F8) and CD105 are differentially expressed in angiogenic and normal vessel endothelial cells. Since the former are excellent markers for the normal vasculature, CD105 (endoglin) is more suitable for identifying tumour angiogenesis. Endoglin is a transforming growth factor (TGF) - beta binding receptor, preferentially expressed on endothelial cells of angiogenic tissues, essential for angiogenesis and vascular development. Conclusions. Tumour microvessel density expressed by CD105 immunohistochemical staining in paraffinembedded tissue sections correlates significantly with tumour aggressiveness and prognosis in many solid tumours. Also, targeting of tumour neovasculature specific antigens offers the possibility of future therapeutic approaches.