ABSTRACT
Objective To study the role of expressions of vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-3 (VEGFR-3) and lymphatic vessel hyaluronan receptor-1(LYVE-1) on the lymphangio-genesis and prognosis in gastric cancer. Methods The tissue microarray technology was used to detect the expressions of VEGF-C, VEGFR-3 and LYVE-1 in 125 gastric cancer specimens, 96 adjacent normal tissues and 20 benign gastric lesion samples. The lymphatic vessel density (LVD) marked by Podoplanin was detected as well. Results The positive rates of VEGF-C, VEGFR-3 and LYVE-1 in gastric cancer tissues were 62.4%, 56.0%and 58.4%, which were significantly higher than those in adjacent normal tissues (10.4%,12.5%and 9.4%) and benign gastric lesion tissues (20%, 30%and 25%, P<0.05). The LVD score was significantly higher in gastric intra-tumoral and peri-tumoral samples (2.98±0.81 and 4.22±1.09) than that in adjacent normal tissues or benign gastric lesion samples (1.82±0.63 or 0.89±0.45, P<0.01). The LVD score was significantly higher in peri-tumoral samples than that of intra-tumoral samples (P<0.01). There was a positive relationship between expression levels of VEGF-C,VEGFR-3 and LYVE-1 with LVD (P<0.05). The positive expressions of the three indexes were the risk factors of lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis (P<0.05). There was a significantly longer 5-year survival rate in patients with negative expression of the three indexes (P<0.05). Conclusion VEGF-C, VEGFR-3 and LYVE-1 proteins were positively highly expressed in gastric cancer tissues, which were risk factors affecting the progno-sis of gastric cancer. The expression levels of the three indexes can be used to predict the prognosis and lymphangiogenesis of gastric cancer.