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Tumor lymphangiogenesis and melanoma metastasis
Author(s) -
Rinderknecht Matthias,
Detmar Michael
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of cellular physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.529
H-Index - 174
eISSN - 1097-4652
pISSN - 0021-9541
DOI - 10.1002/jcp.21494
Subject(s) - lymphangiogenesis , lymphatic system , melanoma , medicine , lymph , vascular endothelial growth factor c , lymph node , sentinel lymph node , pathology , lymphatic vessel , metastasis , cancer research , oncology , vascular endothelial growth factor , cancer , vegf receptors , vascular endothelial growth factor a , breast cancer
Malignant melanomas of the skin primarily metastasize to lymph nodes, and the detection of sentinel lymph node metastases serves as an important prognostic parameter. There is now compelling evidence that melanomas can induce lymphangiogenesis (growth of lymphatic vessels), mainly at the tumor–stroma interface, and that the level of tumor lymphangiogenesis is correlated with the incidence of sentinel lymph node metastases and with disease‐free survival. Thus, tumor lymphangiogenesis can serve as a novel prognostic predictor in melanoma. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)‐C, released by melanoma cells and by tumor‐associated macrophages, likely represents the major lymphangiogenic factor in melanoma, although other members of the VEGF family might also be involved. The recent discovery that tumors can induce a premetastatic niche, by inducing lymphatic vessel growth in sentinel lymph nodes even before metastasis, and that lymph node lymphangiogenesis enhances metastatic spread, indicates that activated lymphatic vessels represent novel targets for the detection and/or therapy of melanoma metastases. J. Cell. Physiol. 216: 347–354, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.