Table 1.
Correlation between VEGF-C mRNA expression in ESCC tissue and clinicopathological factors
| Clinicopathological factors | n | VEGF-C mRNA n (%) | MVD/mm2 (mean ± SD) |
| TNM stage | |||
| I,II | 33 | 11 (33.3) | 60.14 ± 20.2 |
| III, IV | 10 | 7 (70.0)a | 83.68 ± 33.6a |
| Histological grade | |||
| G1 | 12 | 4 (33.3) | 60.5 ± 31.7 |
| G2 | 20 | 8 (45.0) | 66.30 ± 21.6 |
| G3 | 11 | 6 (54.6) | 71.66 ± 30.8 |
| Depth of invasion | |||
| T1, T2 | 23 | 5 (21.7) | 64.24 ± 19.3 |
| T3, T4 | 20 | 13 (65.0)b | 68.86 ± 31.7 |
| Lymph node metastasis | |||
| Negative | 31 | 10 (32.3) | 58.66 ± 18.8 |
| Positive | 12 | 8 (66.7)a | 85.30 ± 32.7a |
a
P < 0.05 vs negative lymph node metastasis and TNM stages III and IV;
b
P < 0.01 vs depth of tumor invasion of T3 and T4.