Can VEGF-C mediated lymphangiogenesis promote metastasis of tongue squamous cell carcinoma?

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to detect the role of VEGF-C in the intra- and peri-tumoral lymphangiogenesis and metastasis of tongue squamous cell carcinoma. METHODS: Tca8113 transfected by VEGF-C (group A) and control cells (Group B, C) were planted in the hindlimb of nude mice. RT-PCR, Western blot were used to detect the expression of VEGF-C in the neoplasm; 5'-Nase was used to detected the peri- and intra-tumoral lymphatic vessels, which was then assessed by image analysis; analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for the comparison of multi-group means; χ2 was used for the comparison of enumeration data. RESULTS: The expression of VEGF-C had no affect on the growth of tumor xenografts, there was no metastatic lymph node in the region of lymphatic drainage, while the peri-tumoral lymphatic vessels in group A were dilated, the perimeter, area and density of lymphatic vessels in group A were 128±16.7μm, 104±8.5μm2, 8.2±2.1/version respectively, there was significant difference between group A and control group (P 0.05). CONCLUSION: Overexpression of VEGF-C could induce the peri-tumoral lymphamgiogenesis, but no lymphatic metastasis was found in this study.