Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-C predicts regional lymph node metastasis in early oral squamous cell carcinoma.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) with regional lymph node metastasis in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The expression of VEGF-C in biopsy specimens obtained from 62 patients with OSCC was examined by immunohistochemistry. In the early stages of T1 and T2 (38 cases), VEGF-C expression strongly correlated with lymph node metastasis (P < 0.001), and the percentage of VEGF-C-positive staining was 88.2% for patients with lymph node metastasis (15 of 17 cases) and 28.6% for those without lymph node metastasis (6 of 21 cases). However, in the advanced stages of T3 and T4, no significant correlation between VEGF-C expression and lymph node metastasis was observed. These results indicate that VEGF-C expression in biopsy specimens can be used as a reliable predictor of regional lymph node metastasis, particularly in early OSCC, and may become an important factor in the selection of appropriate treatment.
Kishimoto
Koji
K
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Biopathological Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Okayama University, 2-5-1 Shikata-cho Okayama 700-8525, Japan.
Sasaki
Akira
A
Yoshihama
Yasuto
Y
Mese
Hiroshi
H
Tsukamoto
Goichi
G
Matsumura
Tomohiro
T
D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D042582:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors; D042582:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C