The Expression And Significance Of VEGF-C And SonicHedgehog In Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Objective:To study the expressions of vascular endothelial growth factor C(VEGF-C) and Sonic Hedgehog(SHH) in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma(ESSC) and clarify the relationship Between VEGF-C,SHH expression and the clinicopathological Features of ESCCs.Methods:The expression of VEGF-C and SHH was evaluated using immunohistocheraistry(IHC) on 45 specimens from patients with squamous cell esophageal carcinomas and 25 cases of non-cancerous esophageal tissues.Results:The positive rates of VEGF-C(42.2%) and SHH(60.0%) in ESCCs were significantly higher than that in non-cancerous esophageal tissues(P＜0.05).The expression of VEGF-C were significantly correlated with lymph node metastases(P=0.004) but not associated with other clinicopathological parameters and patient sruvival(P＞0.05).SHH expression were also correlated with lymph node metastasis(P=0.025).The expression of SHH was higher in Moderately and poorly differentiation ESCCs than that in well differentiation ESCCs(P=0.008).There was no relationship between the positive expression rate of VEGF-C and SHH(P＞0.05).Conclusions:The overexpressions of VEGF-C and SHH in the ESCCs indicates that it may play an important role during the development of ESCCs.Both VEGF-C and SHH may be useful molecular markers and the combined detection of VEGF-C and SHH may be of important clinical value in early diagnosis,evaluation of the tumor infiltrative ability and prognosis of ESCCs.