Tenascin-C, GLUT-1, and syndecan-2 expression in juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma: correlations to vessel density and tumor stage.

Background: Juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma (JNA) is a highly vascular tumor with some characteristics resembling those of vascular malformations. The significance of different growth and angiogenesis promoting factors for the etiology of JNA remains unsolved.

Methods: We analyzed the immunoexpressions of glucose transporter 1 (GLUT-1), tenascin-C (TNC), and syndecan-2 in a series of 27 patients with JNA and compared these with each other and the clinical data to investigate their possible connections and role in the angiogenesis and growth of JNA.

Results: We found that frequent stromal TNC expression had a strong correlation with vessel density and tumor stage and endothelial GLUT-1 expression, when present, correlated with higher tumor stage. Stromal TNC and stromal GLUT-1 expressions were also found to correlate with each other.

Conclusions: The immunoexpression of stromal TNC correlated with vascular density and higher tumors stage, which supports the idea of TNC having a role in the tumorigenesis of JNA putatively by promoting angiogenesis.