Clinicopathological Research On The Correlation Between VEGF-D, D2-40 Expression And Lymph Node Metastasis In Breast Cancer

Objective To detect the expressive levels of vascular endothelial growthfactor-D (VEGF-D) and D2-40 in breast cancer;to investigate the characteristics of distribution and density of lymphatic vessel and the correlation with its clinicopathological factors in breast cancer;to analyse the possible mechanism of lymph node metastasis in breast cancer.Methods Making use of immunohistochemistry to research the expression ofVEGF-D and D2-40 in 50 cases of breast cancer and the normal tissues near the tumor borderline, with microlymphatic density counted.Results The expressive rate of VEGF-D in breast cancer and the normaltissue adjacent cancer were 54% and 8%, respectively , which had significant difference (p<0. 001). The expression of VEGF-D had the positive correlation with the cell proliferation index, lymph node metastasis, clinical stage and OerbB-2 (P<0.01). No correlation was found in age, tumor diameter, histologic types and estrogen and progestogen receptor condition. The MLD in breast cancer was significantly higher than that in the normal tissue adjacent cancer (P<0. 01) and it was not the same in different aeras of cancer .The MLD in tumor borderline was higher than that in the normal tissue and tumor center tissue (p<0. 01)and it was no correlation in the tumor center and the normal tissue (p>0.05). The MLD in the borderline had positive relation to the clinical stage, lymph node metastasis, cancer cell proliferation index (p<0. 01), but it had no significantdifference from age, tumor diameter, histologic types and progestoger and estrogen receptor condition (p>0. 05). The expression of VEGF-D had correlation with MLD (p<0. 01).The MLD average value in tumor borderline was significantly increased in the VEGF-D positive group than the negative group (p<0. 01),but there was no significant difference in tumor center (p>0. 05). The rate of lymph node metastasis in the VEGF-D positive was 70. 4%(19/27),but it in the VEGF-D negative was 34.8% (8/23).The expression of VEGF-D had significant correlation with lymph node metastasis(r=0. 365, p<0. 01).Conclusions l.The abnormal expression of VEGF-D in the breast cancer hascorrelation with clinical stage , lymph node metastasis ,ki-67and OerbB-2. It suggests that the expression of VEGF-D is important in promoting tumor growth and metastasis, it may prove to be a marker to predict the malignant biology of breast cancer and prognosis.2. The lymphatic vessel appears to be involved in the breast cancer. It mainly distributes in the tumor borderline. The MLD in the tumor borderline has correlation with clinical stage , lymph node metastasis and ki~67. The increase of MLD may be related to the invasion and metastasis of breast cancer in the tumor borderline.3. VEGF-D may induce the lymphangiogenesis in the tumor borderline to increase MLD which accelerates the lymph node metastasis of cancer cell.4. The combined detection of VEGF-D and MLD in the tissue of breast cancer can be accepted as important affiliated markers to evaluate the lymph node metastasis. It also can measure the prognosis of breast cancer and provide experimental and theoretical foundation to confirm the clinical treatment methods.