Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 626, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.
Expert Rev Clin Immunol. 2008 Sep;4(5):599-613. doi: 10.1586/1744666X.4.5.599.
The lymphatic system is essential for the maintenance of tissue fluid balance, immune surveillance and the absorption of fatty acids in the gastrointestinal tract. The lymphatic circulation is also a key player in disease processes such as cancer metastasis, lymphedema and various inflammatory disorders. With the identification of specific growth factors for lymphatic endothelial cells and markers that distinguish blood and lymphatic vessels, as well as the development of in vivo imaging technologies that provide new tools to examine the lymphatic drainage function in real time, many advancements have been made in lymphatic vascular research during the past few years. Despite these significant achievements, our understanding of the role of lymphatics in disease processes other than cancer metastasis is still rather limited. The current review will focus on the recent progress made in studies of lymphatics in inflammatory disorders.
淋巴系统对于维持组织液平衡、免疫监视以及胃肠道中脂肪酸的吸收至关重要。淋巴循环也是癌症转移、淋巴水肿和各种炎症性疾病等病理过程中的关键因素。随着特定的淋巴管内皮细胞生长因子和区分血液和淋巴管的标志物的鉴定，以及提供实时检查淋巴引流功能的新工具的体内成像技术的发展，在过去几年中，淋巴血管研究取得了许多进展。尽管取得了这些重大成就，但我们对淋巴在癌症转移以外的病理过程中的作用的理解仍然相当有限。本综述将重点介绍炎症性疾病中淋巴管研究的最新进展。
