The Investigationg About The Relationgship Between VEGF-C And MMP-9with Lymphangiogenesis And Lymphatic Metastasis In Breast Cancer

[Objective] To investigate the correlation between VEGF-C and MMP-9andlymphangiogenesis,discussin the the role of VEGF-C and MMP-9in lymphaticmetastasis of breast cancer.[Methods] The expression of VEGF-C and MMP-9was examined byimmunohistochemistry with SP in41case of breast cancer tissue and correspondingnormal breast tissue、lympha node Tissue.The microlymphatic vessel in the41case ofbreast tissue were markerd by monoclonal antibody for D2-40,the characteristic ofmicrolymphatic vessel was observed and calculate the microlymphatic vesseldensity.The expression of VEGF-CmRNA and MMP-9mRNA was examined by realtime PCR of breast cancer tissue and corresponding normal breast tissue、lymphanode tissue.The relationgship between the expression of VEGF-CmRNA andMMP-9mRNA and the microlymphatic vessel density,investigate the role of VEGF-Cand MMP-9in lymphatic matastasis of breast cancer.[Results] The expression of VEGF-C and MMP-9was detected in breast cancer casewith a positive rate of78%and82.9%.A positive rate of34.1%and31.7%wasdetected in normal breast tissue. The positive rate were61.9%and57.1%in groupswith lymph node metastasis and30.0%and25.0%in group without lymph nodemetastasis. The average of MLVD was9.532±6.540in breast cancer tissue,2.802±1.489in normal breast tissue,9.845±5.564in metastatic lymph node tissue, and1.833±1.597in non-metastatic lymph node tissue. These data suggest that thepositive rates of VEGF-C and MMP-9and the values of MLVD in breast cancer tissuewere significantly higher than those of the normal breast tissue (P<0.01), and thepositive rates of VEGF-C and MMP-9and the values of MLVD in group with lymphnode metastasis were significantly higher than group without lymph node metastasis,the differences were statistically significant (P<0.01). The positive rates of VEGF-Cand MMP-9were positively correlated to the values of MLVD (P <0.01). [Conclusion] This study shows that lymphangiogenesis VEGF-C and MMP-9maypromote the lymphatic metastasis of breast cancer; and lymphangiogenesis waspositively correlated to the expression of VEGF-C and MMP-9, indicating that theenhancement of lymphatic metastasis in breast cancer by both VEGF-C and MMP-9may be induced by the formation of lymphatic vessels in breast cancer tissue.