To Investigate The Expression Of VEGF-C And MMP-2 In Pancreatic Cancer And Its Relations To Micrometastasis By Tissue Microarray

Objective:To study the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-C(VEGF-C) and matrix metalloproteinase-2(MMP-2) in pancreatic carcer and its relations to pancreatic metastasis.Methods:Human pancreatic carcinoma tissue microarray was constructed,which contained 92 cores of 12 normal pancreatic tissues,40 pancreatic carcinoma tissues and 40 cancerous invasive edge.Immunohistochemistry was performed to detect the expression of VEGF-C,MMP-2,CD34(MVD) and VEGFR-3(MLVD).We also analyzed the relationship between VEGF-C,MMP-2,CD34(MVD),VEGFR-3(MLVD) and pancreatic carcinoma metastasis.Results:The positive rates of VEGF-C and MMP-2 were 65.0%(26/40),72.5%(29/40) in pancreatic cancer.The expressions of VEGF-C and MMP-2 in center of cancerous tissues were significantely higher than those in normal pancreatic tissues and cancerous invasive edge(P＜0.01).There were no correlation between the expressions of VEGF-C, MMP-2 and the age,gender,site.VEGF-C expression was associated with MLVD,MVD and the presence of lymph node metastasis(r=0.554,P＜0.01),and inversely with the differentiation.MMP-2 expression was also positively related to MLVD and lymph node metastasis(r=0.442,P＜0.01).Conclusions:VEGF-C and MMP-2 may both participate in the regulation of angiogenisis and lymph node metastasis in pancreatic carcinoma.