title: Lymphangiogenesis and prognostic significance of vascular endothelial growth factor C in gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.
abstract: Vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) is a crucial regulator of the development of lymphatic vessels and is involved in the lymph node metastasis of cancer. The levels of VEGF-C expression and lymphatic vessel density (LVD) in 128 gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma (GEJA) tissues were examined by immunohistochemistry and analysed for their association with clinicopathological features and disease-free survival. We found that 75.0% of tumour samples displayed strong immunoreactivity to VEGF-C. The levels of VEGF-C expression in the tumour tissues were associated with the stages of the clinical tumours and the lymph node metastasis status, but not with the age, gender and the size and type of tumours in the cohort. Similarly, LVD, as evaluated by anti-D2-40 staining, was also associated with the clinical stages of GEJA. The values of LVD were positively correlated with the levels of VEGF-C expression in these samples (r = 0.3760, P = 0.0001). High levels of VEGF-C expression and high values of LVD were associated with shorter periods of disease-free survival (DFS) in patients with GEJA (P < 0.001). In addition, GEJA at N1 and N2 stages, at T4 stage, chemotherapy after surgery, high levels of VEGF-C expression and lower marginal resection were independent factors for the prognosis of DFS in patients with GEJA. Our data indicate that VEGF-C may promote the lymphangiogenesis and lymphatic metastasis of GEJA and that VEGF-C may be a valuable biomarker for the diagnosis of lymphatic metastasis and a prognostic factor of the survival of patients with GEJA.
authors: Cancer Hospital of Medical College, Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong Province, China. xieliangxi1@qq.com
authors: Liang-Xi
authors: LX
authors: Xie
authors: Tian-Tian
authors: TT
authors: Zhai
authors: Li-Ping
authors: LP
authors: Yang
authors: Eleanor
authors: E
authors: Yang
authors: Xiao-Hui
authors: XH
authors: Zhang
authors: Jiong-Yu
authors: JY
authors: Chen
authors: Hao
authors: H
authors: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D004943:Esophagogastric Junction / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D042583:Lymphangiogenesis; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015854:Up-Regulation; D042582:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C467486:VEGFC protein, human; D042582:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C