Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-C,-D and their receptor-3 in patients with colorectal cancer and their clinicopathological value / 中华消化杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)-C, VEGF-D and their receptor-3(VEGFR-3)in patients with colorectal cancer and their clinicopathological value.Methods Eighty specimens of the colorectal cancer and thirty normal adjacent bowels were stud- ied.The expression of VEGF-C,VEGF-D and VEGFR-3 proteins and mRNAs in specimens of colorectal cancers and normal colorectal tissues was studied by Strept-avidin-biotin complex method and RT-PCR. Clinicopathological data and survival of each patient were recorded and analyzed.Results①The staining of brown or filemot in cytoplast were observed as the positive expression of VEGF-C,VEGF-D and VEGFR-3 proteins.The positive rate(48.8%,56.3%,38.8%)and mean value(1.09?1.20,1.13?1.09,0.90?1.19)of VEGF-C,VEGF-D,VEGFR-3 expressions in specimens of colorectal cancer were significantly higher than those of the normal bowel tissues(P＜0.05).The expression of VEGF- C,VEGF-D and VEGFR-3 mRNAs by RT-PCR was correlated with that of VEGF-C,VEGF-D and VEGFR-3 proteins in colorectal carcinomas and normal bowel tissues.②Significant correlation between VEGF-C(P=0.0069),VEGF-D(P=0.0024)and VEGFR-3 expression was observed in colorectal cancers;moreover,no correlation between VEGF-C and VEGF-D.③The expression of VEGF-C, VEGF-D and VEGFR-3 in colorectal cancers was not correlated with age,gender,site and dimension of lesion,types of gross and histological,degree of differentiation and liver and pulmonary metastasis,but correlated significantly with Dukes' stage(P=0.0234,P=0.0003,P=0.0429)and lymph node me tastasis(P=0.0059,P＜0.01,P=0.0068).The increased death rate(P=0.0374,P=0.0127) and poor survival(P＜0.01,P＜0.01)were observed in the colorectal cancer patients with positive ex- pression of VEGF-C and VEGFR-3 when comparing with the patients of the negative expressions,but the expression of VEGF-D in colorectal cancers was not correlated with prognosis of the patients.Con- clusions Colorectal cancer cells may secrete lymphangiogenetic growth factors VEGF-C,VEGF-D and their receptor VEGFR-3,which induce the growth of lymphatic vessel endothelium and lymphangiogene- sis by VEGF-C,VEGF-D/VEGFR-3 signaling pathway,further accelerate lymphatic metastasis of colo- rectal cancers.VEGF-C,VEGF-D and VEGFR-3 might be acted as molecular phenotypes of lym- phangiogenesis in coiorectal cancers and important markers for evaluating lymphatic metastasis and prog- nosis in patients with coloreetaI carcinoma.