Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor C and its correlation with lymph node micrometastasis in gastric carcinoma

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) in gastric carcinoma and analyze its relationship to lymph node metastasis and micrometas- tasis. Methods A total of 67 resected primary gastric carcinoma were analyzed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) for VEGF-C. All the lymph nodes were examined by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining for metas- tasis. Statistical analysis was done with SPSS software. Results In 67 cases of resected primary gastric carcinoma, 46 (68.7%) tumors were examined positive VEGF-C expression. A total of 902 lymph nodes were examined by HE staining, 358 nodes were not found metastasis. Lymph node micrometastasis were identified by IHC in 16 of 358 nodes (4.5%) , in 9 of 35 patients (25.7%) . The expression of VEGF-C was positive in 26 (81.3%) of the 32 patients with lymph node metastases, and in 20 (57.1%) of the 35 patients without lymph node metastases (P < 0.05) . The expression of VEGF-C was positive in 8 (88.9%) of the 9 patients with lymph node micrometastases, and in 12 (46.2%) of the 26 patients without lymph node micrometastases (P < 0.05) . The expression of VEGF-C in gastric carcinoma was correlated signifi- cantly with lymph node metastasis and lymph node micrometastases, but not with patient's age, gender, tumor size, tumor location, histological differentiation and depth of tumor invasion. Conclusion The high expression of VEGF-C in gastric carcinoma is correlated significantly with the lymph node metastasis and lymph node micrometastases. Key words: Gastric cancer; Vascular endothelial growth factor C; Lymph node metastasis; Lymph node micrometastasis