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. 2019 Aug 6;11(8):1120. doi: 10.3390/cancers11081120

Figure 1.

Figure 1

High lymphatic-tropic metastasis LC cells derived from MDA-MB-231 cells via in vivo selection express high levels of VEGF-C and show strong lymphatic invasion ability. (A) Quantitative RT-PCR assay demonstrated a 4.7-fold increase of VEGF-C expression in LC cells when compared with parental MDA-MB-231 cells (231-P). VEGF-C protein levels were also increased in LC cells. * p < 0.05. (B) The tumors generated from LC cells showed intensive lymphanagiogenesis (upper panel) as evidenced by LYVE-1-positive lymphatic endothelial vessels. The invasion of LC cancer cells was also shown by the pan-cytokeratin-positive cells in the lumens of lymphatic vessels. (C) Immunofluorescent staining demonstrated the appearance of LC cancer cells in tumor-draining lymph nodes (TDLN) and distant lymph nodes (DLN). Scale bar: 50 μm. (D) The TDLN of LC tumors isolated at week four after cancer cell inoculation showed extensive lymphangiogenesis, while very little lymphangiogenesis was found in the lymph nodes of normal mice. Scale bar: 50 μm.