Correlative Research On Lymphangiogenesis And Lymphatic Vessel Density In Gastric Carcinoma

Objective: To determine the relationship of lymphangiogenesis, lymphatic vessel density(LVD) and lymphatic node metastasis in gastric carcinoma, we measure the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-C(VEGF-C) and LVD of gastric cancer and analyse them with pathologic clinical features in this experiment.Methods: The mRNA and protein expression levels of VEGF-C in carcinoma and proximal surgical margin tissues which collected from 50 patients with gastric carcinoma were assayed by real-time quantitative PCR and immunohistochemical methods respectively. And we labeled the LVD with monoclonal antibody of podoplanin at same time. The relativity among them and pathologic clinical features was analysed.Results: The mRNA and protein levels of VEGF-C in tumor were higher than that in proximal surgical margin tissue. The LVD in tumor were higher than that in proximal surgical margin tissue. The mRNA and protein levels of VEGF-C in gastric carcinoma were positively correlated with the LVD in gastric carcinoma. The mRNA and protein levels of VEGF-C in proximal surgical margin tissue had no correlation with LVD in proximal surgical margin tissue. The mRNA and protein levels of VEGF-C in tumor tissue were positively correlated with the differentiation of tumor, the depth of tumor, lymphatic node metastasis as well as TNM stage of gastric carcinoma. Their levels had no correlation with age, sex and the position of tumor. LVD in tumor tissue was positively correlated with the differentiation of tumor, the depth of tumor, lymphatic node metastasis as well as TNM stage of gastric carcinoma. It had no correlation with age, sex and the position of tumor.Conclusions: The high expression of VEGF-C and LVD in gastric carcinoma point out that the lymphatic system in gastric cancer is much more than that in proximal surgical margin tissue. The mRNA and protein levels of VEGF-C in gastric carcinoma are positively correlated with LVD in gastric carcinoma. This proves that VEGF-C is an important positive element of lymphangiogenesis in gastric carcinoma. The correlation of VEGF-C, the differentiation of tumor, the depth of tumor, lymphatic node metastasis and TNM stage in gastric carcinoma verify that VEGF-C is related with lymphatic metastasis and the prognosis of the disease. The correlation of LVD, the differentiation of tumor, the depth of tumor, lymphatic node metastasis and TNM stage in gastric carcinoma verify that LVD is related with the invasion of the disease.