Tumor lymphangiogenesis: a novel prognostic indicator for cutaneous melanoma metastasis and survival.

Malignant melanomas of the skin are distinguished by their propensity for early metastatic spread via lymphatic vessels to regional lymph nodes, and lymph node metastasis is a major determinant for the staging and clinical management of melanoma. However, the importance of tumor-induced lymphangioge...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Dadras, S, Paul, T, Bertoncini, J, Brown, L, Muzikansky, A, Jackson, D, Ellwanger, U, Garbe, C, Mihm, M, Detmar, M
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2003
_version_ 1797080904656486400
author Dadras, S
Paul, T
Bertoncini, J
Brown, L
Muzikansky, A
Jackson, D
Ellwanger, U
Garbe, C
Mihm, M
Detmar, M
author_facet Dadras, S
Paul, T
Bertoncini, J
Brown, L
Muzikansky, A
Jackson, D
Ellwanger, U
Garbe, C
Mihm, M
Detmar, M
author_sort Dadras, S
collection OXFORD
description Malignant melanomas of the skin are distinguished by their propensity for early metastatic spread via lymphatic vessels to regional lymph nodes, and lymph node metastasis is a major determinant for the staging and clinical management of melanoma. However, the importance of tumor-induced lymphangiogenesis for lymphatic melanoma spread has remained unclear. We investigated whether tumor lymphangiogenesis occurs in human malignant melanomas of the skin and whether the extent of tumor lymphangiogenesis may be related to the risk for lymph node metastasis and to patient survival, using double immunostains for the novel lymphatic endothelial marker LYVE-1 and for the panvascular marker CD31. Tumor samples were obtained from clinically and histologically closely matched cases of primary melanomas with early lymph node metastasis (n = 18) and from nonmetastatic melanomas (n = 19). Hot spots of proliferating intratumoral and peritumoral lymphatic vessels were detected in a large number of melanomas. The incidence of intratumoral lymphatics was significantly higher in metastatic melanomas and correlated with poor disease-free survival. Metastatic melanomas had significantly more and larger tumor-associated lymphatic vessels, and a relative lymphatic vessel area of >1.5% was significantly associated with poor disease-free and overall survival. In contrast, no differences in the density of tumor-associated blood vessels were found. Vascular endothelial growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor-C expression was equally detected in a minority of cases in both groups. Our results reveal tumor lymphangiogenesis as a novel prognostic indicator for the risk of lymph node metastasis in cutaneous melanoma.
first_indexed 2024-03-07T01:06:56Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:8babfbc5-3b9f-48f9-ab93-f380883c4693
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-07T01:06:56Z
publishDate 2003
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:8babfbc5-3b9f-48f9-ab93-f380883c46932022-03-26T22:39:42ZTumor lymphangiogenesis: a novel prognostic indicator for cutaneous melanoma metastasis and survival.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:8babfbc5-3b9f-48f9-ab93-f380883c4693EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2003Dadras, SPaul, TBertoncini, JBrown, LMuzikansky, AJackson, DEllwanger, UGarbe, CMihm, MDetmar, MMalignant melanomas of the skin are distinguished by their propensity for early metastatic spread via lymphatic vessels to regional lymph nodes, and lymph node metastasis is a major determinant for the staging and clinical management of melanoma. However, the importance of tumor-induced lymphangiogenesis for lymphatic melanoma spread has remained unclear. We investigated whether tumor lymphangiogenesis occurs in human malignant melanomas of the skin and whether the extent of tumor lymphangiogenesis may be related to the risk for lymph node metastasis and to patient survival, using double immunostains for the novel lymphatic endothelial marker LYVE-1 and for the panvascular marker CD31. Tumor samples were obtained from clinically and histologically closely matched cases of primary melanomas with early lymph node metastasis (n = 18) and from nonmetastatic melanomas (n = 19). Hot spots of proliferating intratumoral and peritumoral lymphatic vessels were detected in a large number of melanomas. The incidence of intratumoral lymphatics was significantly higher in metastatic melanomas and correlated with poor disease-free survival. Metastatic melanomas had significantly more and larger tumor-associated lymphatic vessels, and a relative lymphatic vessel area of >1.5% was significantly associated with poor disease-free and overall survival. In contrast, no differences in the density of tumor-associated blood vessels were found. Vascular endothelial growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor-C expression was equally detected in a minority of cases in both groups. Our results reveal tumor lymphangiogenesis as a novel prognostic indicator for the risk of lymph node metastasis in cutaneous melanoma.
spellingShingle Dadras, S
Paul, T
Bertoncini, J
Brown, L
Muzikansky, A
Jackson, D
Ellwanger, U
Garbe, C
Mihm, M
Detmar, M
Tumor lymphangiogenesis: a novel prognostic indicator for cutaneous melanoma metastasis and survival.
title Tumor lymphangiogenesis: a novel prognostic indicator for cutaneous melanoma metastasis and survival.
title_full Tumor lymphangiogenesis: a novel prognostic indicator for cutaneous melanoma metastasis and survival.
title_fullStr Tumor lymphangiogenesis: a novel prognostic indicator for cutaneous melanoma metastasis and survival.
title_full_unstemmed Tumor lymphangiogenesis: a novel prognostic indicator for cutaneous melanoma metastasis and survival.
title_short Tumor lymphangiogenesis: a novel prognostic indicator for cutaneous melanoma metastasis and survival.
title_sort tumor lymphangiogenesis a novel prognostic indicator for cutaneous melanoma metastasis and survival
work_keys_str_mv AT dadrass tumorlymphangiogenesisanovelprognosticindicatorforcutaneousmelanomametastasisandsurvival
AT pault tumorlymphangiogenesisanovelprognosticindicatorforcutaneousmelanomametastasisandsurvival
AT bertoncinij tumorlymphangiogenesisanovelprognosticindicatorforcutaneousmelanomametastasisandsurvival
AT brownl tumorlymphangiogenesisanovelprognosticindicatorforcutaneousmelanomametastasisandsurvival
AT muzikanskya tumorlymphangiogenesisanovelprognosticindicatorforcutaneousmelanomametastasisandsurvival
AT jacksond tumorlymphangiogenesisanovelprognosticindicatorforcutaneousmelanomametastasisandsurvival
AT ellwangeru tumorlymphangiogenesisanovelprognosticindicatorforcutaneousmelanomametastasisandsurvival
AT garbec tumorlymphangiogenesisanovelprognosticindicatorforcutaneousmelanomametastasisandsurvival
AT mihmm tumorlymphangiogenesisanovelprognosticindicatorforcutaneousmelanomametastasisandsurvival
AT detmarm tumorlymphangiogenesisanovelprognosticindicatorforcutaneousmelanomametastasisandsurvival