Inflammatory stromal reaction correlates with lymphatic microvessel density in early-stage cervival cancer

In early-stage cervical cancer, high lymphatic microvessel density (LMVD) indicates favorable prognosis. This unexpected finding was thought to be an effect of local immunological response, although no data supported this thesis.LMVD and lymphovascular invasion (LVI) were assessed in 85 specimens of cervical cancer stage pT1b by immunostaining for podoplanin, a marker for lymphatic endothelia. Local immunological response, evident by inflammatory stromal reaction (ISR), was determined in HE-stained slides and rated from grade 1 (absent or weak) to 3 (strong)A good correlation of LMVD and ISR was found (p=0.002). While a strong correlation between LMVD and the presence of LVI was found (p0.001), no association between LMVD and pelvic lymph node involvement (p=0.732) was observed. ISR indicated favourable prognosis of patients (p=0.0247, log-rank test).Our findings suggest that ISR might play a role in the induction of lymphangiogenesis in early stage cervical cancer.