Resumen
The generation of pathologic, immature, and dysfunctional vessels by angiogenesis is a well-known mechanism of metastasis and has been a therapeutic target for colorectal cancer (CRC). In this study, we investigated the clinical relevance of microvascular endothelial (mvE) cells in CRC by analyzing tumor gene expression profiles of large patient cohorts. We found that the abundance of mvE cells does not mirror angiogenesis, but rather is associated with the number of mature blood vessels in the tumor microenvironment and predicts the response to chemotherapy as well as patient survival in CRC. This is the first study suggesting the clinical relevance of mvE cells in CRC.