Relationship between breast cancer-related lymphoedema and VEGF-C and VEGFR-3 / 中华普通外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the distribution and clinicopathological characteristics between VEGF-C and pefitumoral lymph vessels density(PLVD) in breast cancer tissue, and to investigate the development and the mechanism of breast cancer-related lymphoedema (BCRL). Methods VEGF-C and VEGFR-3 were detected by using immunohistochemical technique for the detection of VEGF-C and its receptor VEGFR-3 in forty-seven breast cancer specimens. We measured the patients' circumferences of bilateral upper limbs to determine whether there was lymphoedema and made classification in the follow-ups. Results VEGF-C was positive in 33 out of 47 cases. PLVD significantly increased in VEGF-C positive groups (30.39±10. 46) than in negative groups (23.16±11.67) (P<0.05). VEGF-C semi-quantitative score was in a positive correlation with PLVD (r=0.334). The positive expression rate (42.55%) and semi-quantitative score (3.68±1.59) of VEGF-C increased in the lymph node positive group than in the negative group, PLVD increased in the lymph node positive group compared with that in negative group (32.12±10.29 vs. 24.82±11.06), P<0.05. The risk of lymphoedema increased in the VEGF-C negative group (5/14) compared with that in the positive group (3/33) (P<0.05). Conclusion VEGF-C has a high rate of positive expression in breast cancer, and is positively correlated with PLVD. High expression of VEGF-C can reduce the risk of BCRL in breast cancer.