Figure 7.

Increased lymphatic vessels density is associated with increased CD8+ T cell infiltration, together with increased expression of immunosuppressive molecules such as iNOS, IDO and Arg-1. This can be observed not only locally in primary tumors and metastatic lymph nodes (LNs) but also in adjacent non-metastatic LNs. Together, tumor derived VEGF-C induces lymphatic vessels that attract CD8+ T cells, with their known fundamental properties, namely the promotion of anti-tumor immune responses but also immune suppression (via adaptive immune resistance mechanisms).