Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor C and its clinical significance in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

  • Published:
Chinese Journal of Clinical Oncology

Abstract

Objective

To examine the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), and to clarify its role in lymphatic metastasis in ESCC patients.

Methods

Esophageal carcinoma EC9706 cells and samples from 49 patients with primary ESCC were investigated by using S-P immunohistochemistry (IHC), the semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and in situ hybridization (ISH) methods for VEGF-C expression.

Results

VEGF-C positive expression was found in EC9706 cells through IHC, ISH and RT-PCR. Positive IHC for VEGF-C was observed in 36 of 49 cases of ESCC. There was a significant difference between the expression of VEGF-C in a lymph-node-positive group compared to a node-negative group (χ2=4.7, P<0.05). Positive ISH for VEGF-C mRNA was observed in 23 of 49 cases of ESCC. There was a significant difference between the expression of VEGF-C in the lymph-node-positive group and node-negative group (χ2=31.3, P<0.01). The expression of VEGF-C was significantly higher in the lymph-node-positive group compared to the node-negative group. Of 49 ESCC tissues, RT-PCR for VEGF-C mRNA was observed positively in 29 cases. There was a significant difference between the expression of VEGF-C in the lymph-node-positive group and node-negative group (χ2=23.3, P<0.01). The expression of VEGF-C was significantly higher in the lymphnode-positive group compared to the node-negative group. Expressions of VEGF-C were not significantly associated with age, gender, and pathological grade. There was a relationship between VEGF-C mRNA expressions by RT-PCR and ISH (χ2=18.5, P<0.01) in ESCC cases, but with no significant difference between the two methods.

Conclusion

VEGF-C expression may induce lymphangiogenesis in human ESCC. There was a close correlation between VEGF-C expression and lymph node metastasis. VEGF-C can serve as a useful prognostic factor for ESCC patients.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Nathanson SD. Insights into the mechanisms of lymph mode metastasis. Cancer. 2003; 98:413–423.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Liu XE, Sun XD, Wu JM. Expression and significance of VEGF-C and FLT-4 in gastric cancer. World J Gastroenterol. 2004; 10:352–355.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Chen KS, Zhang L, Tang L, et al. Expression of heparanase mRNA in anti-sense oligonucleotide-transfected human esophageal cancer EC9706 cells. World J Gastroenterol. 2005; 11:4916–4917.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Yonemura Y, Fushido S, Bando E, et al. Lymphangiogenesis and the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)-3 in gastric cancer. Eur J Cancer. 2001; 37:918–923.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Arinaga M, Noguchi T, Takeno S, et al. Clinical significance of vascular endothelial growth factor C and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3 in patients with nonsmall cell lung carcinoma. Cancer. 2003; 97:457–464.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Skobe M, Hawighorst T, Jackson DG, et al. Induction of tumor lymphangiogenesis by VEGF-C promotes breast cancer metastasis. Nat Med. 2001; 7:192–198.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Hanrahan V, Currie MJ, Gunningham SP, et al. The angiogenic switch for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A, VEGF-B, VEGF-C, and VEGF-D in the adenoma-carcinoma sequence during colorectal cancer progression. J Pathol. 2003; 200:183–194.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Shi XY, Li HY, Liu YQ, et al. The roles of VEGF-C and its receptor flt-4 in lymphangiogenesis and metastasis of cervical cancer. Chin J Clin Oncol. 2005; 32:181–184 (Chinese).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Veikkola T, Jussila L, Makinen T, et al. Signaling via vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-3 is sufficient for lymphangiogenesis in transgenic mice. EMBO J. 2001; 20:1223–1231.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Karpanen T, Egeblad M, Karkkainen MJ, et al. Vascular endothelial growth factor C promotes tumor lymphangiogenesis and intralymphatic tumor growth. Cancer Res. 2001; 61:1786–1790.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Stacker SA, Williams RA, Achen MG. Lymphangiogenic growth factor as markers of tumor metastasis. APMIS. 2004; 112:539–549.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Onogawa S, Kitadai Y, Amioka T, et al. Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C and VEGF-D in early gastric carcinoma: correlation with clinicopathological parameters. Cancer Lett. 2005; 226:85–90.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. George ML, Tutton MG, Janssen F, et al. VEGF-A. VEGF-C, and VEGF-D in colorectal cancer progression. Neoplasia. 2001; 3:420–427.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Achen MG, McColl BK, Stacker SA. Focus on lymphangiogenesis in tumor metastasis. Cancer Cell. 2005; 7:121–127127.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Chen ZT, Varney ML, Backora MW, et al. Down-regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor-C expression using interfering RNA vecters in mammary spontaneous metastasis and enhances survival. Cancer Res. 2005; 65:9004–9011.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, China

    Hongxin Zhang, Lan Zhang, Kuisheng Chen, Dongling Gao & Yunhan Zhang

  2. Department of Clinical Laboratory, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, China

    Fucheng He

  3. Henan Key Laboratory of Tumor Pathology, Zhengzhou, 450052, China

    Hongxin Zhang, Lan Zhang, Kuisheng Chen, Dongling Gao & Yunhan Zhang

Authors
  1. Hongxin Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lan Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kuisheng Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Dongling Gao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Fucheng He
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Yunhan Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yunhan Zhang.

Additional information

This work was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.30470779) and the Henan Innovation Project for University Prominent Research Talents (No.2006KYCX016)

About this article

Cite this article

Zhang, H., Zhang, L., Chen, K. et al. Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor C and its clinical significance in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Chin. J. Clin. Oncol. 4, 83–88 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11805-007-0083-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11805-007-0083-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation