Expression of VEGF-D in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and the correlation with lymphatic vessel density and lymphatic metastasis

Objective To study the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-D(VEGF-D) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC) and it′s correlation with lymphatic vessel density(LVD),and investigate the correlation with lymphatic metastasis of ESCC.Methods Fifty-five cases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with complete clinical data were included in this study.Immunohistochemical analysis was used to detect the expression of VEGF-D and LVD in carcinoma tissues,adjacent noncancerous tissues and corresponding normal tissues.Then the correlation of the expression of VEGF-D and LVD and lymphatic metastasis was analyzed by statistic methods.Results(1) LVD in carcinoma tissues(6.6582±2.0489/HPF) was significantly higher than that in adjacent noncancerous tissues(5.7527±1.4631/HPF) and corresponding normal tissues(5.5782±1.4553/HPF)(P0.05).(2)The positive rate of VEGF-D in carcinoma tissues(43.6%) was significantly higher than that in adjacent noncancerous tissues(16.4%) and corresponding normal tissues(12.7%)(P0.05).(3) There was positive correlation between the expression strength of VEGF-D and LVD(r=0.9985,P0.05).(4)The positive rate of VEGF-D and LVD in the positive lymph node group were significantly higher than those in the negative lymph node group(69.2% vs 20.7%,7.9308±2.0055/HPF vs 5.5172±1.2857/HPF,P0.05).Conclusions(1) The Expression of VEGF-D and LVD are high in ESCC,and LVD overpress is associated with elevated VEGF-D,it is probably that VEGF-D can lead to lymphangiogenesis of ESCC.(2) LVD and the expression strength of VEGF-D in ESCC could be the important index for lymph node metastasis of ESCC.