Invasion of lymphatic vessels is a key step in the metastasis of primary tumors to draining lymph nodes. Although the process is enhanced by tumor lymphangiogenesis, it is unclear whether this is a consequence of increased lymphatic vessel number, altered lymphatic vessel properties, or both. Here we have addressed the question by comparing the RNA profiles of primary lymphatic endothelial cells (LEC) isolated from the vasculature of normal tissue and from highly metastatic T-241/vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C fibrosarcomas implanted in C57BL/6 mice. Our findings reveal significant differences in expression of some 792 genes (i.e., >or=2-fold up- or down-regulated, P
Journal article
Cancer Res
15/09/2008
68
7293 - 7303
Animals, Cell Adhesion Molecules, Cell Growth Processes, Endoglin, Endothelial Cells, Fibrosarcoma, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Humans, Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins, Junctional Adhesion Molecules, Lymph Nodes, Lymphatic Metastasis, Mice, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Neoplasms, Neovascularization, Pathologic, Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis, Receptors, Leptin, Transforming Growth Factor beta, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C