Dai Yong, Jiang Jinbo, Wang Yanlei, Jin Zutao, Hu Sanyuan
Department of General Surgery, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University Jinan 250012, Shandong, China.
Am J Transl Res. 2016 Dec 15;8(12):5741-5747. eCollection 2016.
As the most common malignant tumor, gastric cancer had persistently high occurrence and mortality rate worldwide. Unfavorable treating outcome occur due to distal metastasis, making the inhibition of angiogenesis and managing tumor metastasis being crucial factors for affecting prognosis. Vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) is one important angiogenesis factor and mainly facilitates proliferation and differentiation of vascular endothelial cells in angiogenesis. It has been indicated in development and occurrence in gastric cancer, while its expression and correlation with microvascular density (MVD)/lymph node metastasis are still unclear. A total of 52 gastric tumor and 25 normal tissue samples were recruited for quantifying mRNA and protein expression of VEGF-C by real-time PCR and Western blotting. MVD and lymph tube density were quantified for further analysis of the correlation between VEGF-C and pathological parameters including clinical stage and lymph node metastasis. Both mRNA and protein levels of VEGF-C were significantly elevated in gastric tissues (p<0.05). In lymph node metastasis cases, VEGF-C was further potentiated compared to non-metastatic group (p<0.05). VEGF-C expression was positively correlated with MVD, lymph tube density and clinical stage (p<0.05) but not with age, sex or differentiation grade. VEGF-C expression is closely correlated with lymph node metastasis of gastric cancer. It may participate in the progression of gastric cancer via facilitating angiogenesis and lymph node metastasis, thus can be used in predicting prognosis of patients with gastric carcinoma.
作为最常见的恶性肿瘤，胃癌在全球范围内的发病率和死亡率一直居高不下。由于远处转移导致治疗效果不佳，因此抑制血管生成和控制肿瘤转移是影响预后的关键因素。血管内皮生长因子-C（VEGF-C）是一种重要的血管生成因子，主要促进血管生成过程中血管内皮细胞的增殖和分化。已有研究表明其与胃癌的发生发展有关，但其表达以及与微血管密度（MVD）/淋巴结转移的相关性仍不清楚。本研究共收集了52例胃肿瘤组织和25例正常组织样本，通过实时定量PCR和蛋白质免疫印迹法检测VEGF-C的mRNA和蛋白表达水平。对MVD和淋巴管密度进行定量分析，以进一步研究VEGF-C与临床分期、淋巴结转移等病理参数之间的相关性。结果显示，胃癌组织中VEGF-C的mRNA和蛋白水平均显著升高（p<0.05）。在有淋巴结转移的病例中，与无转移组相比，VEGF-C水平进一步升高（p<0.05）。VEGF-C的表达与MVD、淋巴管密度及临床分期呈正相关（p<0.05），但与年龄、性别及分化程度无关。VEGF-C的表达与胃癌淋巴结转移密切相关，可能通过促进血管生成和淋巴结转移参与胃癌进展，可用于预测胃癌患者的预后。
