Table 6.
Association of lymphatic vessel density (LVD) with lymphatic metastasis in breast cancer
# of Patients |
Method of Analysis |
Comments | P valueb | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
180 | IHCa | Higher than median LVD a was significantly associated with unfavorable prognosis |
P=0.033 | [88] |
177 | IHC | Tumors with higher total LVD were significantly associated with LN metastasis and shorter OS a |
P<0.001 | [23] |
121 | IHC | Intratumoral lymphatic vessels were present in ~10% of all patients and did not correlate with LN metastasis. Peritumoral lymphatic vessel density was not assessed |
NS | [80] |
113 | IHC | LVD also strongly correlated with poor DFS a and OS (P=0.0033 & P=0.0391) |
P<0.0001 | [70] |
87 | IHC | D2-40-stained intratumoral lymph vessels were present in 80% of non-inflammatory and 82.8% of inflammatory breast cancers specimens |
P=0.001 | [24] |
80 | IHC | Higher LVD correlated with the number of positive LN in patients with invasive micropapillary breast carcinoma |
P=0.045 | [236] |
75 | IHC | Lymphatic vessel density was unrelated to LN status | NS | [77] |
61 | IHC | LVD was higher in breast carcinoma than in benign mammary lesions and significantly correlated with higher expression of VEGF-C and VEGF-D, P<0.01 |
P<0.01 | [69] |
61 | IHC | Intratumoral lymphatic vessels were reduced or absent in tumors compared with normal breast tissue. Peritumoral LVD was not assessed |
N/A | [79] |
55 | IHC | There was an increase in peritumoral LVD as compared with normal breast) but a decrease in intratumoral LVD (both P = 0.0001) |
P = 0.0001 | [78] |
29 | qRT-PCR | LVD also correlated with VEGF-C and VEGF-D expression measured by qRT-PCR (P=0.0291) |
P=0.0558 | [238] |
Abbreviations: IHC, immunohistochemistry; LVD, lymphatic vessel density; OS, overall survival; DFS, disease-free survival; other abbreviations are given under Table 1.
P value indicates association of intratumoral or peritumoral LVD with LN metastasis.