Relationship between Expression of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor, flk-1 and the Carcinogenesis and Metastases of Laryngeal Mucosa

Using automated image analysis to quantify the immunoreactivities of flk-1 in dysplasia (DYS) and malignant epithelia (SCC) of laryngeal mucosa, to observe the distributton of flk-1 and the relationship between flk-1 and the growth, infiltration andmetastases of laryngeal carcinoma. Results showed that flk-1 was expressed by the epithelial cell in all observed groups.The endothelial cells and the chronic inflammatorycells were also flk-1-positive stained.The expression of flk-1 was higher in SCC than inDYS.The expression of flk-l in metastatic SCC was significantly higher than in theSCC without metastases.Correlation analysis indicated that expression of flk-l washighly correlated with the clinical stage.We concluded that VEGF could influence thegrowth of both tumour cells and newly foumed blood vessels through paracrine and autocrine patterns.The expression of flk-l was highly associated with the growth, infiltration and metastases of laryngeal carcinoma, which might be an important prognosticindicator for laryngeal carcinoma.