ORIGINAL ARTICLES

VEGF-C is associated with lymphatic status and invasion in oral cancer

B S M S Siriwardena^1,3, Y Kudo¹, I Ogawa², M N G P K Udagama³, W M Tilakaratne³ and T Takata¹

¹ Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathobiology, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan
² Center of Oral Clinical Examination, Hiroshima University Hospital, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan
³ Department of Oral Pathology, Faculty of Dental Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Correspondence to:
Dr Yasusei Kudo, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathobiology, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan; ykudo{at}hiroshima-u.ac.jp

Background: Nodal metastasis is a major prognostic indicator for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) progression. Recently, it has been revealed that lymphangiogenic growth factor VEGF-C and its receptor Flt-4 play an important role for invasion and metastasis in cancer cells.

Aim: To examine VEGF-C expression and its correlation with lymphatic status, including the number of lymph vessels and lymphatic invasion, tumour invasion and metastasis in OSCC.

Methods: Intratumoural and peritumoural lymphatic vessels were examined using D2-40 in 54 OSCC cases and correlated with VEGF-C expression and clinicopathological findings. The histological pattern of invasion and pathological findings were compared.

Results: High expression of VEGF-C was frequently observed in OSCC and was associated with increased number of lymph vessels and lymphatic invasion. VEGF-C was well correlated with invasion pattern and metastasis.

Conclusions: Results suggest that VEGF-C may play an important role for lymphangiogenesis and invasion in the metastatic process and can be a strong predicting factor for metastasis of OSCC.

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