Except for Flt-4, VEGFR-2, NRP-1 and NRP-2 can all function as receptors for VEGF-C and VEGF-D [18]. Therefore, the roles of VEGF-C, VEGF-D, and Flt-4 in the progress of tumors are omnifarious and the underlying mechanisms of these growth factors need to be further studied. Our research showed that the

specificity of Flt-4 as a lymphatic vessel marker was not high. Some of selleck chemicals llc the Flt-4 positive vessels were morphological blood vessels and other vessels were lymphatic vessels. We found that FVD was positively associated with the FIGO stage of cervical cancer, but was not related to the other clinicopathological features including histological grade, lymph node metastasis, or lymphatic vessel infiltration. In addition, we found that FVD was correlated with the expression of VEGF-C and VEGF-D. This is inconsistent with Yasuoka et al. [19]. The VEGF receptor tyrosine kinase family includes VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2, and VEGFR-3. VEGF-1 and VEGF-2 are primarily expressed in blood vessel endothelial cells and are involved in tumor angiogenesis. Since Flt-4 is expressed in the endothelial cells of blood vessels and lymphatic vessels, VEGF-C, VEGF-D, and Flt-4 may Selleck HSP inhibitor also play important

roles in tumor angiogenesis [20]. In summary, our results indicated that VEGF-C, VEGF-D, and Flt-4 may promote tumor lymphangiogenesis and may provide a spreading route for tumor metastasis through a paracrine mechanism. On the other hand, they may function in an autocrine manner to enhance tumor cell migration and invasion and may therefore play an important role in the lymphatic vessel metastasis of early-stage cervical carcinoma. Acknowledgements This research is supported by Shandong Natural Science Foundation (No. Y2008C70). References 1. Tobler NE, Detmar M: Tumor and lymph node lymphangiogenesis – impact on cancer metastasis. J Leukoc Biol 2006, 80: 691–696.check details CrossRefPubMed 2. Garrafa E,

Alessandri G, Benetti A, Turetta D, Corradi A, Cantoni Urease AM, Cervi E, Bonardelli S, Parati E, Giulini SM, Ensoli B, Caruso A: Isolation and characterization of lymphatic microvascular endothelial cells from human tonsils. J Cell Physiol 2006, 207: 107–113.CrossRefPubMed 3. Juttner S, Wissmann C, Jons T, Vieth M, Hertel J, Gretschel S, Schlag PM, Kemmner W, Hocker M: Vascular endothelial growth factor-D and its receptor VEGFR-3: two novel independent prognostic markers in gastric adenocarcinoma. J Clin Oncol 2006, 24: 228–240.CrossRefPubMed 4. Weidner N, Semple JP, Welch WR, Folkman J: Tumor angiogenesis and metastasis – correlation in invasive breast carcinoma. N Engl J Med 1991, 324: 1–8.CrossRefPubMed 5. Jeltsch M, Kaipainen A, Joukov V, Meng X, Lakso M, Rauvala H, Swartz M, Fukumura D, Jain RK, Alitalo K: Hyperplasia of lymphatic vessels in VEGF-C transgenic mice. Science 1997, 276: 1423–1425.CrossRefPubMed 6.