ASO Author Reflections: Peritumoral Lymphatic Vessels as a Predictor of Response to Chemotherapy and Survival in Esophageal Cancer

Excerpt

Previous studies have investigated the clinical impact of intra-tumoral lymphatic vessel density (LVD) in several types of cancer including esophageal cancer (EC). These studies have reported an induction of intra-tumoral lymphatic vessels (LVs), leading to a greater incidence of lymphovascular invasion, lymph node metastasis,1,2 and poorer prognosis.3,4 Meanwhile, because LVs maintain oncotic pressure in tissue via drainage and facilitate an immune response against tumors as a communication pathway between tumors and lymph nodes, the authors hypothesized that peritumoral LVs may play biologically more distinct roles in EC than intra-tumoral LVs.5 Because little is known about the significance of peritumoral LVs in EC, this study5 aimed to compare peritumoral LVs with non-tumoral LVs in resected specimens from EC and clarify its association with tumor characteristics and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). …