Expression And Clinical Significance Of VEGF-C And VEGFR-3 In Rectal Cancer

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) and its receptor vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3(VEGFR-3) in rectal cancer.Methods: The expressions of VEGF-C and VEGFR-3 (Flt4) were detected by immunohistochemistry in 88 cases of rectal cancer, and their clinicopathological and clinical data were retrospectively analyzed. Results: The 88 cases patients had been followed-up for more than 5 years (62-88 months, average is 75.4 months). The survival rates of the group in 1, 3, 5 years were 88.6%, 70.5% and 63.6% respective. The positive expression of VEGF-C was detected in 46 cases of the rectalcancer (52.3%), and the positive expression of VEGFR-3 was in 40 cases of the rectal cancer (45.5%), and their expressions were significant correlation (P<0.01). The positive expressions of VEGF-C and VEGFR-3 were significant correlation with the lymph node metastasis,and differentiation degree of tumor ,and the survival rate of 1, 3, 5 years(P<0.05). There was significant difference of the survival rate in 1, 3, 5 years between positive group and negative group for VEGF-C (78.3% vs. 100%, 51.2% vs. 90.5%, 39.1% vs. 90.5%, p<0.01), and there was similar result by VEGFR-3 (80% vs. 95.8%, 40% vs. 95.8%, 30% vs. 91.7%, p<0.01). Conclusions: The study suggested that detection of VEGF-C and VEGFR-3 seemed to be useful in predict the lymphatic metastasis,guidance of treatment and estimation of prognosis in rectal cancer.