VEGF expression was positively associated with the MVD count of hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (r = 0.582, P = 0.000); however, integrin β1 was not associated with VEGF or MVD (P > 0.05).
In conclusion, the expression of integrin β1 protein in cervical SCC tissues was significantly higher than that in the normal cervical tissues, and it increased with the clinical stage and the degree of malignancy.
Staining of CD29 and CD44 showed similar heterogeneous expression pattern with positive cells located in the invasion front of SCC tissue as well as in cultured A431 cells.
However, in SCC, α-dystroglycan was localized neither within carcinoma cell nests nor in the stroma, while perlecan disappeared from SCC foci but emerged in the stromal space, leaving integrin β1+ and Ki-67+ cells only to the periphery of SCC foci.