Expression And Correlation With Lymph Node Envolvement Of VEGF-D, TEM-8, And Podoplanin In Colorectal Cancer

Objectives Lymphatic spread of colorectal cancer cells to regional lymph nodes is one of the early events in metastatic cancers and often is associated with distant metastatic spread and a poor prognosis.In this experiment,the expression levels of lymphatic endothelial markers—VEGF-D,podoplanin,and a newly described tumor marker,TEM-8 were assessed half-quantified by using a real-time PCR(RT-PCR) technique,to evaluate the prognostic value of the three markers in colorectal cancer.methods Tumor tissue and adjacent normal mucosa were obtained from 30 colorectal cancer patients immediately after surgical resection.Levels of VEGF-D, podoplanin and TEM-8 were examined for each sample using real-time RT-PCR.Results VEGF-D,podoplanin,and TEM-8 levels were significantly higher in tumor tissues than that in normal mucosa(VEGF-D level detected in tumor tissue was 0.0055±0.0036,and in normal mucosa,0.0015±0.0015,P＜0.05,podoplanin levels in tumor tissues and normal mucosa were 0.0136±0.0106,and 0.0014±0.0018, respectively,P＜0.05,and for TEM-8 levels,0.0006±0.0004,in tumor tissues,0.0043±0.0035,in normal mucosa,P＜0.05).In the cases with regional lymphnode metastasis,VEGF-D levels were significantly higher than those without(0.00847±0.00218,and 0.00481±0.00108,respectively,P＜0.05),but no correlation was found between VEGF-D level and tumor stage(in Dukes B group,VEGF-D level was 0.00486±0.00186,in Dukes C,0.00621±0.00269,P＞0.05).While TEM-8(Dukes B,0.0028±0.0141,Dukes C,0.00375±0.0162,P＜0.05,lymphnode positive, 0.00415±0.0137,lymphnode negative,0.00213±0.00584,P＜0.05) and podoplanin (Dukes B,0.0074±0.0126,Dukes C,0.0171±0.0159,P＜0.05,lymphnode positive, 0.0247±0.0218,lymphnode negative,0.00681±0.0108,P＜0.05) levels was correlated with both regional node metastasis and tumor stage.Conclusion VEGF-D,Podoplanin and TEM-8 could act as tumor markers for colorectal cancer,and were correlated with regional lymphnode metastasis.TEM-8 was proved to be an tumor spicific marker,may play an important role in the diagnosis,prognostic prediction,and treatment of colorectal cancer.