Study On The Relationship Of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-C And Lymph Node Metastasis In Patients With Primary Human Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinomas

PURPOSE: Vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) is a specific growth factor of lymphatics, which is known to play some role in tumor metastasis to lymph nodes and distant organs in various malignancies. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the expression VEGF-C and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) as well as measur the circulating VEGF-C in human esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC) to elucidate the role of VEGF-C in dignosing lymph node metastasis. METHODS: sixty-two patients with ESCC and ten healthy control patients were included in the current study. Immunohistochemistry were used to check the expression VEGF-C and CD68 in paraffin sample. Circulating VEGF-C levels were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Clinical data were obtained from medical records.RESULTS: The positive rate of VEGF-C was 33.9%. Expression of VEGF-C was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis(p=0.015) or depth of tumor invasion(p=0.039).Macrophages counts in lymph node metastasis group were significantly higher than in no- metastasis group(p=0.04). Sensitivity and...