Number of glioma polyploid giant cancer cells (PGCCs) associated with vasculogenic mimicry formation and tumor grade in human glioma

BACKGROUND: Polyploid giant cancer cells (PGCCs) contribute to solid tumor heterogeneity. This study investigated the relationships among PGCCs numbers, vasculogenic mimicry (VM) formation, and tumor grades in glioma. METHODS: A total of 76 paraffin-embedded glioma tissue samples, including 28 cases of low grade and 48 cases of high grade gliomas, were performed with H&E and immunohistochemical staining for Ki-67 and hemoglobin. The size of PGCCs nuclei was measured by a micrometer using H&E section and defined as at least three times larger than the nuclei of regular diploid cancer cells. The number of PGCCs and different blood supply patterns were compared in different grade gliomas. Microcirculation patterns in tumors were assessed using CD31 immunohistochemical and PAS histochemical double staining. Human glioma cancer cell line C6 was injected into the chicken embryonating eggs to form xenografts, which was used to observe the PGCCs and microcirculation patterns. RESULTS: In human glioma, the number of PGCCs increased with the grade of tumors (χ(2) = 4.781, P = 0.015). There were three kinds of microcirculation pattern in human glioma including VM, mosaic vessel (MV) and endothelium dependent vessel. PGCCs were able to generate erythrocytes via budding to form VM. The walls of VM were positive (or negative) for PAS staining and negative for CD31 staining. There were more VM and MVs in high grade gliomas than those in low grade gliomas. The differences have statistical significances for VM (t = 3.745, P = 0.000) and MVs (t = 4.789, P = 0.000). PGCCs, VM and MVs can also be observed in C6 chicken embryonating eggs xenografts. CONCLUSIONS: The data demonstrated presence of PGCCs, VM and MVs in glioma and PGCCs generating erythrocytes contribute the formation of VM and MVs.