Study on relationship between VEGF-C and lymphangiogenesis and lymph node metastasis in bladder transitional cell carcinoma

Objective:To explore the relationship between VEGF-C and lymphangiogenesis and lymphnode metastasis in bladder transitional cell carcinoma(BTCC)with the use of podoplanin,a specific lymphaticvessel endothelium marker to detect lymphatic vessel.Methods:The expression of VEGF-C and podoplanin were detected in 45 paraffin sections of BTCC and 10 cases of normal bladder tissue as control by immunohistochemistry(SP).Assessments of podoplanin,lymphatic vessel density(LVD)and positive rates of VEGF-C were performed and their relationship was analysed.Results:The positive rate of VEGF-C in the normal bladder tissue group was significantly lower than that in the BTCC group(10.0% vs.71.1%,P0.01),the positive rate of VEGF-C in the positive lymphnode group was significantly higher than that in the negative lymphnode metastasis group(81.3% vs.65.5%,P0.05)and there was no difference between the well differentiated group and the poor differentiated group(70.6% vs.72.7%,P0.05).LVD in the normal bladder tissue group(1.2±0.3)was distinctly lower than that in the BTCC group(6.8±1.3)(P0.01),LVD in the positive VEGF-C group was significantly higher than that in the negative VEGF-C group(7.6±1.5 vs.4.7±0.9,P0.05)and compared with the negative lymph node metastasis group(5.1±1.1),LVD(8.3±1.4)in the positive lymph node metastasis group increased significantly(P0.05).Conclusion:Lymphangiogenesis is a significant factor for tumor lymphatic metastasis,VEGF-C may mediate lymphatic metastasis of BTCC by the way of inducing lymphangiogenesis.