Expression of VEGF - C in Oral Precancerous Lesions and Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Objectives: Oral squamous cell cacrcinoma(OSCC) comprises 90% of all oral cancers and 16-62% of OSCC develop from oral premalignant lesions (OPLs). Lymph node metastasis is a major prognostic indicator for OSCC progression. It has been revealed that lymphangiogenic growth factor VEGF-C plays an important role in invasion and nodal metastasis of cancer cells. This study was performed to investigate the VEGF-C expression and its clinical significance in OPLs and OSCC. Methods: The expression levels of VEGF-C was determined immunohistochemically in 10 OPLs cases and 20 OSCC cases and correlations between VEGF-C expression and clinicopathological parameters and prognosis were analyzed. Results: The statistical analysis revealed high significant correlation between expression of VEGF-C (r =0.737, p=0.015) and degree of dysplasia in OPLs. Also correlations between VEGF-C expression and tumor size(r =0.533, p=0.016),lymph node metastasis(r =0,686, p =0.001),clinical stage of OSCC (r =0.466, p=0.038) showed high significant correlation. Conclusions: These results suggest that VEGF-C may play an important role in the process of carcinogenesis and can be a strong predictor of lymph node metastasis in OSCC.