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Updated: Jul 19, 2026
Draining Lymph Node Metastasis Model for Assessing the Dynamics of Antigen-Specific CD8+ T Cells During Tumorigenesis
Published on: January 26, 2024
Intratumoral lymphatic vessels and VEGF-C expression are predictive factors of lymph node relapse in T1-T4 N0
Adolfo Hinojar-Gutiérrez1, María-Encarnación Fernández-Contreras, Rocío González-González
1Department of Otorhynolaryngology, Hospital Universitario de la Princesa, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Madrid, Spain.
Background:
The presence of intratumoral lymphatic vessels (ILVs) and the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) in tumour cells have been studied as markers of lymphangiogenesis in order to evaluate their role in metastatic dissemination in laryngopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.
Methods:
A retrospective study was performed in 76 patients of N0 laryngopharyngeal carcinoma. with variable tumour size (T1-T4), histological grade, and location (supraglottic, glottic and hypopharyngeal). The presence of ILVs, as revealed by the expression of PA2.26 antigen and VEGF-C expression, were determined by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Low-grade and high-grade lymphangiogenesis were defined by qualitative and quantitative criteria.
Results:
Multivariate analysis revealed low-grade ILV and VEGF-C expression to be associated respectively with 30.3- and 16.2-fold higher probabilities of cervical lymph node relapse (P = 0.005 and P = 0.032) and with 16.2- and 8.44-fold shorter disease-free survival (P = 0.009 and P = 0.045).
Conclusions:
Low-grade ILV and VEGF-C expression are independent predictive factors of cervical lymph node relapse and shortening of time to relapse in N0 laryngopharyngeal carcinoma.
