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Lymphangiogenesis induced by VEGF-C and VEGF-D promotes metastasis and a poor outcome in breast carcinoma: a retrospective study of 61 cases

Clinical & Experimental Metastasis volume 25, pages 717–725 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose To evaluate lymphangiogenesis in patients with breast carcinoma, explore the underlying mechanism, and study the relationship between lymphangiogenesis and progression of breast carcinoma. Methods Sixty-one cases of breast carcinoma with complete clinical and pathological data were analyzed. Using an anti-podoplanin monoclonal antibody, an immunohistochemical study was made of all specimens to detect lymphatic vessel density (LVD) and to investigate its clinicopathological and prognostic value. VEGF-C and VEGF-D were observed by RT-PCR and immunostaining to investigate their clinicopathological and prognostic values and their relationship with lymphangiogenesis. Results LVD in breast carcinoma (6.28 ± 3.73) was significantly higher than in benign mammary lesions (0.50 ± 1.27), P < 0.01 and was significantly associated with lymphatic metastasis and high TNM stage, P < 0.01. The level of VEGF-C and VEGF-D expression was also significantly higher in breast carcinomas than in benign mammary lesions, P < 0.01. LVD increased significantly with higher expression of VEGF-C and VEGF-D, P < 0.01. Patients with high expression of VEGF-C and VEGF-D were observed to be more likely to have a bad outcome, P < 0.05. Conclusions Lymphangiogenesis was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis, high TNM, and poor outcome in breast carcinoma. LVD may serve as a predictor of lymph node metastasis and a prognostic factor in breast carcinoma. VEGF-C and VEGF-D play an important role in lymphangiogenesis making the carcinoma more aggressive and leading to a poor prognosis.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Yalei Dai for her kind technical help. This study was supported by the Dengshan Key Project of the Science Foundation of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, No. 06DZ19506.

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  1. Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200011, China

    Yan Gu, Xiaoliang Qi & Shanyu Guo

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  1. Yan Gu
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  2. Xiaoliang Qi
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Correspondence to Yan Gu.

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Gu, Y., Qi, X. & Guo, S. Lymphangiogenesis induced by VEGF-C and VEGF-D promotes metastasis and a poor outcome in breast carcinoma: a retrospective study of 61 cases. Clin Exp Metastasis 25, 717–725 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10585-008-9180-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10585-008-9180-4

Keywords

  • Breast neoplasms
  • Neoplasm metastasis
  • Lymphangiogenesis
  • VEGF-C
  • VEGF-D