title: Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-C and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-3 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan.
authors.forename: Itaru
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Omoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan.
authors.forename: Masataka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okumura
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuto
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Uchikado
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Setoyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshiaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kita
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuhiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Owaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kijima
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shinchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan.
authors.forename: Sumiya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ishigami
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ueno
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-8520, Japan.
authors.forename: Shoji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Natsugoe
keywords: esophageal cancer; microlymphatic vessel density; vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-3; vascular endothelial growth factor-C