TY - JOUR
T1 - Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-C and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-3 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma
AU - Omoto, Itaru
AU - Matsumoto, Masataka
AU - Okumura, Hiroshi
AU - Uchikado, Yasuto
AU - Setoyama, Tetsuro
AU - Kita, Yoshiaki
AU - Owaki, Tetsuhiro
AU - Kijima, Yuko
AU - Shinchi, Hiroyuki
AU - Ishigami, Sumiya
AU - Ueno, Shinichi
AU - Natsugoe, Shoji
PY - 2014/4
Y1 - 2014/4
N2 - Lymph node metastasis is one of the most important prognostic factors in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C and its receptor, VEGF receptor-3 (VEGFR-3), are key in the process of lymphangiogenesis. The present study immunohistochemically examined the expression of VEGF-C, VEGFR-3 and D2-40 in 119 patients with ESCC, and microlymphatic vessel density (MLVD) was calculated based on D2-40 expression counts. Positive expression of VEGF-C was found to correlate significantly with depth of tumor invasion, lymphatic invasion and lymph node metastasis (P<0.001, P<0.0001 and P<0.0001, respectively). Patients with deeper tumor invasion showed higher positivity of VEGFR-3 expression (P<0.05), while patients with lymph node metastasis showed higher MLVD (P<0.05). When patients were divided into three groups according to the expression of VEGF-C and VEGFR-3, patients with coexpression of VEGF-C and VEGFR-3 exhibited poorer prognosis and higher MLVD. The VEGF-C/VEGFR-3 axis is important in tumor lymphangiogenesis.
AB - Lymph node metastasis is one of the most important prognostic factors in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C and its receptor, VEGF receptor-3 (VEGFR-3), are key in the process of lymphangiogenesis. The present study immunohistochemically examined the expression of VEGF-C, VEGFR-3 and D2-40 in 119 patients with ESCC, and microlymphatic vessel density (MLVD) was calculated based on D2-40 expression counts. Positive expression of VEGF-C was found to correlate significantly with depth of tumor invasion, lymphatic invasion and lymph node metastasis (P<0.001, P<0.0001 and P<0.0001, respectively). Patients with deeper tumor invasion showed higher positivity of VEGFR-3 expression (P<0.05), while patients with lymph node metastasis showed higher MLVD (P<0.05). When patients were divided into three groups according to the expression of VEGF-C and VEGFR-3, patients with coexpression of VEGF-C and VEGFR-3 exhibited poorer prognosis and higher MLVD. The VEGF-C/VEGFR-3 axis is important in tumor lymphangiogenesis.
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U2 - 10.3892/ol.2014.1823
DO - 10.3892/ol.2014.1823
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84896709372
SN - 1792-1074
VL - 7
SP - 1027
EP - 1032
JO - Oncology Letters
JF - Oncology Letters
IS - 4
ER -
