Objective To investigate the relationship between lymphatic vessel density（LVD） in tongue squamous cell carcinoma （TSCC）and tumor metastasis. Methods Immunohistochemistry SP method was applied to label the lymphatic vessels of tumors by VEGFR- 3 staining in 62 cases of TSCC, the expression of VEGF- D were analyzed at the same time. Results Of the 62 patients, the positive staining of lymphatic vessels were 56 cases. The functional lymphatic vessels was mainly located in the peri- tumoral areas. No evidence of mature lymphatic vessels was found in the paraneoplastic stroma. The positive expression of VEGF- D was distributed in the cytoplasm of cancer cells. With the increase in the expression of VEGF- D, the LVD of peritumor also increased. Conclusion LVD in TSCC is significantly correlated with neck lymph node metastasis, VEGF- D/VEGFR- 3 pathway can contribute to lymphangiogenesis and lymph node metastasis.
