[Lymphatic metastasis and VEGF-C expression in ovarian epithelial tumors]

The aim of the present study was to explore the role of vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) in the process of angiogenesis, lymphangiogenesis and lymphatic metastasis in epithelial ovarian tumors. In situ hybridization and immunohistochemical staining for VEGF-C were performed in 30 epithelial ovarian carcinomas, 9 borderline tumors and 26 benign cystadenomas. Endothelial cells were immunostained with anti-VEGFR-3 pAb and anti-CD31 mAb, and VEGFR-3 positive vessels and microvessel density (MVD) were assessed by image analysis. VEGF-C mRNA and protein expression in ovarian epithelial carcinomas were significantly higher than that in borderline tumors and benign cystadenomas (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01). In ovarian epithelial carcinomas, VEGF-C protein expression, VEGFR-3 positive vessels and MVD were significantly higher in the cases of clinical stage III-IV and with lymphatic metastasis than those of clinical stage I-II and without lymphatic metastasis respectively (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01), VEGFR-3 positive vessels and MVD was significantly higher in the VEGF-C protein positive tumors than negative tumors (p < 0.05), VEGFR-3 positive vessels was significantly correlated with MVD(p < 0.01). These data suggest that VEGF-C might play a role in lymphatic metastasis via lymphangiogenesis and angiogenesis in epithelial ovarian carcinomas, and VEGF-C could be used as a biologic marker of metastasis in ovarian epithelial carcinomas.