Relationship between Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-3 and Occult Metastasis in Early-Stage Tongue Cancer / 天津医药

ABSTRACT

Objective:To detect the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-3(VEGFR-3)in earlystage tongue cancer and the relationship with occult metastasis thereof.Methods:The expression of VEGFR-3 was examined in paraffin-embedded specimens from 62 patients with early-stage tongue cancer by immunohistochemical staining.The relationship was analyzed between the expression of VEGFR-3 and size,occult metastasis and differentiation of early-stage tongue cancer.Results:The positive expression of VEGFR-3 mainly located in the lymphatic endothelial cells of peritumoral areas and negative expression in tumor area.The higher expression of VEGFR-3 was found in patients with occult metastasis.The expression of VEGFR-3 was significantly higher in patients of Ⅱ-Ⅲ grade than that of patients in I grade carcinoma(t=4.77,P ＜ 0.05).The expression of VEGFR-3 was higher in patients with occult metastasis than that in patients with negative lymph node(t=6.33,P ＜ 0.05).But there were no significant correlation between the expression of VEGFR-3 and the age,gender and size of tumor in patients.Conclusion:The value of VEGFR-3 can be a useful indicator to evaluate the occult metastasis of early-stage tongue cancer.