Expression Of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C And Fms-like Tyrosin Kinase 4 In Colorectal Cancer

Purpose This investigation was to show the correlation of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF), vascular endothelial growth factor C(VEGF-C) and fins-like tyrosin kinase 4(VEGFR-3/flt-4) expression with lymphangiogenesis, angiogenesis and metastasis in colorectal cancer and to expose the function of VEGF/VEGF-C in lympth node metastasis.Methods 58 cases of colorectal cancer and 12 cases of normal colorectal tissue were studied by immunohistochemical method using anti-VEGF, VEGF-C and flt-4 antibodies, the results were assessed by semi-quantitative analysis. Micro vessel density (MVD) and the number of flt-4 positive vessels were evaluated in different expression intensity of VEGF/VEGF-C and lymph nodes metastatic status.Result 45 cases for VEGF(77.6%), 38 cases for VEGF-C(65.5%) and 34 cases for flt-4(58.6%) were positive in the colorectal cancer group respectively. The expression of VEGF-C and the number of flt-4 positive vessels were associated with lymph node metastasis, lymphatic invasion and Dukes stages(P<0.01). With the expression intensity of VEGF increasing, the high expression proportion of VEGF-C increased. Higher MVDC45.7±15.4) and the number of flt-4 positive vessels( 28.3±9.0) than another three groups have been observed in VEGF/VEGF-C high expression group and lower MVD (30.2 ± 6.5) than others have also been observed in VEGF/VEGF-C low expression group.Conclusions (DVEGF-C expression was increase in colorectal cancer, it activated the flt-4 signaling pathway by paracrine predominately for lymphangiogenesis, resulting in promoting the lymph node metastasis. (2)The expression of VEGF-C was associated with the prognosis of colorectal cancer, it should become a better preditor. (3)Combining examination of the expression of VEGF and VEGF-C was shown to have a synergistic effect in induction of lymphangiogenesis and angiogenesis.