CyclinD1 promotes lymph node metastasis by inducing lymphangiogenesis in human ovarian carcinoma

Aims and background: CyclinD1 regulates the G1/S phase transition of the cell cycle and is frequently overexpressed in many types of human cancers. Much evidence has implicated that the expression of CyclinD1 is related to the lymphatic metastasis of human ovarian carcinoma. However, the mechanism of CyclinD1 in lymphatic metastasis of ovarian carcinomas is still unclear. The objective of the present study was to assess the incidence of CyclinD1 expression in ovarian carcinomas and look for its correlation with lymph vessel density (LVD) and clinicopathological variables.

Methods: We assessed the expression of CyclinD1 levels and lymph vessel density (LVD) quantified through D2-40 by immunohistochemistry from 110 Chinese patients with primary ovarian carcinomas and 40 with benign ovarian tumors as controls.

Results: CyclinD1 was detected in 52 primary ovarian carcinomas (47.3%), which was significantly higher than its expression in the benign ovarian tumors. CyclinD1 expression was correlated with tumor grade, FIGO stage, T stage and lymphatic metastasis. Moreover, the LVD counts in the group of CyclinD1 positive expression were higher than in the group of CyclinD1 negative expression.

Conclusions: Our findings indicate that CyclinD1 might be involved in lymph node metastasis by inducing lymphangiogenesis in human ovarian carcinoma.