Vascular endothelial growth factor-C induces lymphangitic carcinomatosis, an extremely aggressive form of lung metastases.

ABSTRACT: The lymphatic system is an important pathway for tumor dissemination to the lymph nodes, but to which extent it contributes to the formation of distant metastases remains unknown. We report that induction of lymphangiogenesis by vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) at the secondary site, in the lung, facilitates expansion of already disseminated cancer cells throughout the lung tissue. By using orthotopic spontaneous metastasis models in nude mice, we show that VEGF-C expression by tumor cells altered the pattern of pulmonary metastases from nodular to diffuse and facilitated disease progression. Metastases expressing VEGF-C were tightly associated with the airways, in contrast to the control cells that were scattered in the lung parenchyma, throughout the alveolar region. VEGF-C

SUBMITTER: Das S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4648266 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature