Angiogenesis and Lymphangiogenesis in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Comparison of Japanese and Indian Cases

A comparative study between 17 Japanese and 19 Indian patients with oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs)revealed that the tumour prognostic indicator mean vessel density (MVD) count for angiogenesis was relativelyhigh at 57.1 in Indian as compared to 39.3 in Japanese (P=0.001) cases, whereas the lymph-vessel density (LVD)count for lymphangiogenesis was lower (12.8 vs 48.0, P=0.002). Both male and female Indians had higher MVDcounts, but LVD counts were only slightly lower in females. MVD count was relatively high among the casesbelow 65 years old in both the countries (P=0.4). Japanese cases with Tongue cancer had higher MVD count,but the Indian cases had lower LVD counts. Size-wise, T2 and T3 had higher counts of MVD both in Indian andJapanese cases. MVD and LVD count was higher in grades II and III both in Japanese and Indian cases. Therewas insignificant difference of the MVD counts among smokers, but the tobacco chewers in Indian cases hadhigher counts of MVD and LVD (P value by Bartlett test 0.35, 0.57 respectively). The hot-spots of tumour siteshad variable rates of lymphocyte infiltration showed higher MVD counts in all the cases. Although the clinicalcharacteristics and demographic variables usually relate to MVD and LVD counts, the tendency of higher values,especially among tobacco chewers, identified as the highest risk group for occurrence of oral cancer needs to beinvestigated further.