Da Ming-Xu, Wu Zhuang, Tian Hong-Wei
Department of General Surgery, Gansu Provincial Hospital, PR China.
Arch Med Res. 2008 May;39(4):365-72. doi: 10.1016/j.arcmed.2007.12.005. Epub 2008 Mar 4.
Recent studies have revealed that malignant tumors can actively induce the formation of new lymphatic vessels and metastasize through the lymphatic system. Tumor-induced lymphangiogenesis driven by tumors expressed lymphangiogenic growth factors such as VEGF family, fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2), angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1), angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2), and platelet-derived growth factors (PDGFs) is correlated with lymph node metastasis in experimental cancer models and in several types of human cancers. Tumor- induced lymphangiogenesis has now been firmly established as a novel mechanism for cancer progression and lymph node metastasis. Recent studies indicate that blockade of the lymphangiogenic growth factors pathway inhibits tumor spread to lymph nodes and likely beyond. The potential effects of most of these newly identified lymphatic growth factors on tumor-induced lymphangiogenesis and lymph node metastasis remain to be further investigated. A number of questions remain to be answered concerning the potential efficacy of targeting at tumor-induced lymphangiogenesis for inhibiting tumor spread to lymph nodes.
近期研究表明，恶性肿瘤能够主动诱导新淋巴管的形成，并通过淋巴系统发生转移。由肿瘤表达的淋巴管生成生长因子（如VEGF家族、成纤维细胞生长因子2（FGF-2）、血管生成素-1（Ang-1）、血管生成素-2（Ang-2）以及血小板衍生生长因子（PDGFs））驱动的肿瘤诱导淋巴管生成，在实验性癌症模型和多种人类癌症中均与淋巴结转移相关。肿瘤诱导淋巴管生成现已被确认为癌症进展和淋巴结转移的一种新机制。近期研究表明，阻断淋巴管生成生长因子途径可抑制肿瘤向淋巴结及可能更远部位的扩散。这些新发现的大多数淋巴生长因子对肿瘤诱导淋巴管生成和淋巴结转移的潜在影响仍有待进一步研究。关于靶向肿瘤诱导淋巴管生成以抑制肿瘤向淋巴结扩散的潜在疗效，仍有许多问题有待解答。
