Abstract:
Objective This study aims to investigate the clinicopathological significance of lymphatic vessel invasion(LVI) labeled by D2-40 monoclonal antibody in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC).
Methods Immunohistochemical assay was used to detect the expression of D2-40 and LVI in 107 ESCC cases.Then, the correlation between the clinicopathological feature and the overall survival time in patients was analyzed.
Results The lymph node metastasis rates were 70% and 21% in the LVI-positive and LVI-negative groups, respectively.The nodal metastasis rate was higher in the LVI-positive group than in the LVI-negative group.Multivariate regression analyses showed that LVI was related to nodal metastasis(P < 0.001).The median survival times of the patients were 26 and 43 months in the LVI-positive and LVI-negative groups, respectively.Although the univariate regression analysis showed significant difference between the two groups(P=0.014), the multivariate regression analyses revealed that LVI was not an independent prognostic factor for overall survival in the ESCC patients(P=0.062).Lymphatic node metastasis(P=0.031), clinical stage(P=0.019), and residual tumor(P=0.026) were the independent prognostic factors.
Conclusion LVI labeled by D2-40 monoclonal antibody is a risk factor predictive of lymph node metastasis in ESCC patients.