Relationship between Expression of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-D and Lymphatic Metastasis in Tongue Cancer

Objective: To detect the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-D(VEGF-D) in tongue cancer and explore its relationship with lymphatic vessel density(LVD) and lymphatic metastasis in tongue cancer. Methods: The expressions of VEGF-D and lymphatic vessel endothelial hyaluronan receptor-1(LYVE-1)were examined in paraffin-em-bedded specimens from 62 patients with tongue cancer by immunohistochemical staining. Results: The positive expression of VEGF-D distributed in the cytoplasm of cancer cells. The positive expression of LYVE-1 mainly located in the lymphatic endothelial cells of peri-tumoral areas. Among 62 patients, the positive rate of VEGF-D was 74.2%(46/62) and LYVE-1 was 83.9%(52/62). The LVD of peritumor increased with the increase in the expression of VEGF-D(r=0.632,P 0.05). In this cohort of tongue cancer,the expression of VEGF-D was significantly higher in moderate and low grade carcinoma than that in high grade carcinoma(P 0.05). The expression of VEGF-D was higher in patients with positive lymph node than that with negative lymph node (P 0.05).But there were no correlation between the expression of VEGF-D and the age,gender,and TNM stage in patients. Conclusion: The results suggested that VEGF-D produced from cancer cells, induced lymphangiogenisis in tongue cancer’s peritumor areas and promoted lymph note metastasis.