SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Thoracic Oncology
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1481726
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovative Strategies for Overcoming Resistance in Tumor Angiogenesis TherapiesView all 4 articles
Vasculogenic mimicry in non-small cell lung cancer: a systematic review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
- 2Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology (RAS), Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russia
- 3City Hospital, village Svobodny, Svobodny, Russia
- 4Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Tomsk Oblast, Russia
- 5N.N. Petrov National Medical Research Center of Oncology, Saint Petersburg, Russia
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Vasculogenic mimicry (VM), a non-endothelial tumor blood supply mechanism linked to poor prognosis in various cancers, requires consolidated prognostic evaluation in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This systematic review synthesized evidence on VM's association with survival outcomes (OS, DFS, PFS) in NSCLC patients. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, PubMed and Google Scholar were searched, identifying 19 eligible studies (all in Chinese populations) using immunohistochemistry (CD31/CD34-PAS) for VM detection. Eighteen studies found VM presence (prevalence 13.6%–45.2%) significantly associated with worse survival. Multivariate analyses identified VM as an independent negative prognostic factor, increasing mortality risk (HR 1.542–2.542) and progression risk (HR 2.1–2.4). However, critical limitations included exclusive focus on Asian cohorts, universal retrospective design, inconsistencies and potential artifacts in VM detection, and statistical issues (misreported risk measures, discordant data). While VM correlates with reduced survival in NSCLC, suggesting potential prognostic utility, these limitations - particularly ethnic homogeneity, retrospective bias, methodological heterogeneity, and statistical errors - preclude definitive conclusions. Future prospective studies with standardized VM assessment and diverse populations are essential for validation.
Keywords: Vasculogenic mimicry, Non-small cell lung cancer, prognosis, Histology, Systematic review
Received: 16 Aug 2024; Accepted: 01 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shapkina, Shindyapin, Burlov, Prosekina and Artemyeva. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Valeriia Shapkina, Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Vadim Shindyapin, Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology (RAS), Moscow, 119991, Moscow Oblast, Russia
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