Podoplanin, a transmembrane sialomucin-like glycoprotein, was recently shown to be involved in tumor progression and metastasis, and its potential role in facilitating platelet-based tumor embolization and promigratory phenotype of cancer cells was also demonstrated. In this study, we assessed the clinical significance of tumoral podoplanin expression in 295 patients with clear cell renal cell ...

The tumour microenvironment is critical for various characteristics of tumour malignancies. Platelets, as part of the tumour microenvironment, are associated with metastasis formation via increasing the rate of tumour embolus formation in microvasculature. However, the mechanisms underlying the ability of tumour cells to acquire invasiveness and extravasate into target organs at the site of emb...

Distant metastasis is a common cause of mortality in patients with salivary gland adenoid cystic carcinoma (SACC). However, presently, the development of distant metastasis is unable to be predicted in clinical practice. Recent studies have shown that overexpression of podoplanin is associated with metastasis and survival in patients with several cancer types. The purpose of the present study w...

Platelets play a key role in the pathophysiological processes of hemostasis and thrombus formation. However, platelet functions beyond thrombosis and hemostasis have been increasingly identified in recent years. A large body of evidence now exists which suggests that platelets also play a key role in inflammation, immunity, malignancy, and furthermore in organ development and regeneration, such...

CLEC-2 is a C-type lectin receptor which is highly expressed on platelets but also found at low levels on different immune cells. CLEC-2 elicits powerful platelet activation upon engagement by its endogenous ligand, the mucin-type glycoprotein podoplanin. Podoplanin is expressed in a variety of tissues, including lymphatic endothelial cells, kidney podocytes, type I lung epithelial cells, lymph...

Factors determining lymphatic differentiation in the adult organism are not yet well characterized. We have made the observation that mixed primary cultures of dermal blood endothelial cells (BEC) and lymphatic endothelial cells (LEC) grown under standard conditions change expression of markers during subculture: After passage 6, they uniformly express LEC-specific markers Prox-1 and podoplanin...

Background—Emerging evidence has suggested a contribution of bone marrow (BM) cells to lymphatic vessel formation; however, the exact phenotype of the cells with lymphatic endothelial progenitor cell function has yet to be identified. Here, we investigate the identity of BM-derived lymphatic endothelial progenitor cells and their role in lymphatic neovascularization. Methods and Results—Culture...

Podoplanin is involved in tumorigenesis and cancer progression in head and neck malignancies and its expression is not restricted to lymphatic vessel endothelium. The aim of this study was to establish podoplanin expression in the tumor-free resection margins of oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs) and to evaluate the geometric complexity of the lymphatic vessels in oral mucosa by utilizing fr...

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) with its major complication, pulmonary embolism, is a global health problem. Mechanisms of DVT remain incompletely understood. Platelets play a role in DVT, but the impact of specific platelet receptors remains unclear. Platelet C-type lectin-like receptor 2 (CLEC-2) is known to maintain the physiological state of blood vasculature under inflammatory conditions. DVT i...

PURPOSE To determine whether lymphatic vessels exist in vascularized human corneas, by using immunohistochemistry with novel markers for lymphatic endothelium. METHODS Human corneas exhibiting neovascularization secondary to keratitis, transplant rejection, trauma, and limbal insufficiency (n = 21) were assessed for lymphatic vessel content by conventional transmission electron microscopy and...