Study on relationship of lymph vessel density with nodal status,VEGF-C expression and prognosis in breast cancer

Objective To investigate the role of D240 positive lymph vessel density(LVD) in breast cancer,and to examine whether LVD is associated with lymph node metastasis,vascular endothelial growth factorC(VEGF-C) expression,or prognosis.Methods Tissue samples of primary tumors from 70 patients undergoing intentionally curative surgical resections for breast cancer were immunohistochemically examined for the expression of VEGF-C and D2-40.The relationship between LVD and clinicopathologic parameters as well as VEGF-C immunoreactivity and prognosis was analyzed.Results The expression of VEGF-C in breast cancer was significantly associated with the diferentiation(P0.001),lymph node metastasis(P=0.010) and D2-40 positive lymphatic invasion(P=0.031).LVD was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis(P0.001),VEGF-C immunoreactivity(P=0.012),and LVI(P=0.001).Univariate analysis demonstrated that high LVD was associated with both disease free survival(P=0.011) and overall survival(P=0.001).Based on multivariate analysis,LVD was also identified as the independent prognostic factor for both disease free survival(P=0.015) and overall survival(P=0.002).Conclusions Increased LVD is correlated with lymph node metastasis and VEGF-C expression.High LVD may be a significant unfavorable prognostic factor for long-term survival in breast cancer.