Proteomic research progress in lymphatic metastases of cancers

Lymph node metastasis (LNM) is recognised as an important factor involved in malignant tumour progression by interfering with a favourable prognosis. It is involved in a variety of cancers. Proteins are believed to play important roles in the LNM of cancers. The rapid achievements of state-of-the-art proteomic techniques have emerged as the key technologies successfully applied to identify markers for cancers at high-throughput level by providing novel targets and creating possible therapeutic interventions in cancer research. This review summarises recent progress in proteomic research in hepatocarcinoma, gastric cancer, oesophageal cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer and nasopharyngeal cancer. Actin, heat-shock proteins (HSPs), annexins, cytokeratin 10 (CK10), CK19, protein gene product 9.5 (PGP9.5) and protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) are the most common proteins in lymphatic metastases of cancers revealed by proteomic and protein functional studies. Other protein candidates specifically associated with LNMs of certain cancers are also summarised and discussed.