Relationship between D2-40-labeled lymphatic vessel invasion and lymph node metastasis of breast cancer / 南方医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the feasibility of D2-40 labeling for detecting lymphatic vessels in breast cancer tissues and the clinicopathological implications of lymphatic vessel invasion (LVI).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of D2-40 and lymphatic invasion in 72 cases of breast cancer and 15 benign breast tumor tissues, and their correlations to the clinicopathological factors were analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The positivity rate of LVI was 69.4% in breast cancer tissue. In patients with lymph node metastasis, the positivity rate of LVI was significantly higher than that in patients without lymph node involvement (85.7% vs 54.1%, P<0.01), and LVI was found to be positively correlated to axillary lymph node metastasis (r=0.382).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>D2-40 can specially and reliably mark the lymphatic vessels in breast cancer tissues. LVI is positively correlated to axillary lymph node metastasis and occurs earlier than the latter, therefore should be included in routine clinicopathological testing.</p>