Expressions of interleukin-18,vascular endothelial growth factor-C and its receptor-3 in colorectal cancer and their role in lymph node metastasis

Objective To investigate the expressions of IL-18,VEGF-C and VEGFR-3 in human colorectal cancer and their significance in lymphatic metastasis.Methods Immunohistochemical MaxVision method was used to detect the expression of IL-18,VEGFC and VEGFR-3 in 30 specimens of colorectal cancinoma,10 normal mucosa and 10 lymph node with metastatic cancer.Results The expressions of IL-18,VEGF-C and VEGFR-3 in colorectal carcinoma were significantly higher than that in normal mucosa(P0.05).IL-18 and VEGF-C were higher in metastatic lymph nodes than in normal mucosa,with the two expressions positively correlated(P0.05).The expression of VEGF-C was higher in the lymph node with metastatic cancer than in that without(P0.05).Conclusion Colorectal carcinoma cells can express IL-18,VEGF-C and its receptor VEGFR-3,their higher expressions are correlated with the carcinogenesis and development of colorectal carcinoma.The higher expression of VEGF-C is closely correlated with lymphatic involvement,and thus could be used as an important predictive marker for lymphatic metastasis.