Published 4 April 2005. doi:10.1084/jem.20041896
Rockefeller University Press, 0022-1007 $8.00
JEM, Volume 201, Number 7, 1089-1099
VEGF-A induces tumor and sentinel lymph node lymphangiogenesis and promotes lymphatic metastasis
Satoshi Hirakawa1,
Shohta Kodama2,
Rainer Kunstfeld1,
Kentaro Kajiya1,3,
Lawrence F. Brown4, and
Michael Detmar1,3
1 Cutaneous Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129
2 Department of Immunobiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129
3 Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland
4 Department of Pathology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215
CORRESPONDENCE Michael Detmar: michael.detmar{at}pharma.ethz.ch
The mechanisms of tumor metastasis to the sentinel lymph nodes are poorly understood. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A plays a principle role in tumor progression and angiogenesis; however, its role in tumor-associated lymphangiogenesis and lymphatic metastasis has remained unclear. We created transgenic mice that overexpress VEGF-A and green fluorescent protein specifically in the skin, and subjected them to a standard chemically-induced skin carcinogenesis regimen. We found that VEGF-A not only strongly promotes multistep skin carcinogenesis, but also induces active proliferation of VEGF receptor-2expressing tumor-associated lymphatic vessels as well as tumor metastasis to the sentinel and distant lymph nodes. The lymphangiogenic activity of VEGF-Aexpressing tumor cells was maintained within metastasis-containing lymph nodes. The most surprising finding of our study was that even before metastasizing, VEGF-Aoverexpressing primary tumors induced sentinel lymph node lymphangiogenesis. This suggests that primary tumors might begin preparing their future metastatic site by producing lymphangiogenic factors that mediate their efficient transport to sentinel lymph nodes. This newly identified mechanism of inducing lymph node lymphangiogenesis likely contributes to tumor metastasis, and therefore, represents a new therapeutic target for advanced cancer and/or for the prevention of metastasis.
Abbreviations used: K14, keratin 14; BrdU, 5-bromo-2'deoxyuridine; DMBA, 7,12-dimethylbenzanthracene; LEC, lymphatic endothelial cell; LYVE-1, lymphatic vessel endothelial hyaluronan receptor 1; SCC, squamous cell carcinoma; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor; VEGFR, VEGF receptor.

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