The structure of vascular mimetic vessels (right) compared to angiogenic blood vessels (left) and lymphatic vessels (center). During the course of vascular mimicry, cancer cells are endothelial cell-like, however, these cancerous cells line the basal surfaces relative to the lumen space in these vessels compared to the endothelial cell which align to the apical surface in lymphoid and blood vessels. The presence of supporting pericytes can also be used to differentiate between lymphatic and blood vessels, which both stain for endothelial markers relative to the endothelial cell void vascular mimetic vessels. From Valdivia, A., Mingo, G., Aldana, V., Pinto, M. P., Ramirez, M., Retamal, C., et al. (2019). Fact or fiction, it is time for a verdict on vasculogenic mimicry? Frontiers in Oncology, 9, 680. doi:
10.3389/fonc.2019.00680.