Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-C in stomach cancer and its relationship with lymphatic metastasis and prognosis

Objective: To study the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-C(VEGF-C) in stomach cancer and its correlation with lymphatic metastasis and prognosis.Methods: The specimens from 80 patients with primary gastric cancer and 20 specimens from superficial gastritis as controls were examined using S-P immunohistochemistry.The expression of VEGF-C in the stomach cancer and its relationship with lymphatic metastasis and prognosis were studied.Results: Immunohistological staining with VEGF-C specific polyclonal antibody showed cytoplasmic and membranous staining in the cancer cells.The expression of VEGF-C in gastric carcinoma was significantly higher than that in control and was correlated with lymphatic metastasis(P<0.01);Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that VEGF-C was an independent factor for the prognosis of the patients.Conclusions: VEGF-C is expressed in stomach cancer and its overexpression correlates with the lymphatic metastasis and the prognosis.