Questions, answers and discussions regarding general pathology
HomeQ: Does anyone know of any relationship between the spread of tumors and lymph vessel representation in the given organ? There are always exceptions but usually carcinomas are lymphatic spread and sarcomas are hematogenous spread.
Q: Does anyone know of any relationship between the spread of tumors and lymph vessel representation in the given organ? There are always exceptions but usually carcinomas are lymphatic spread and sarcomas are hematogenous spread.
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Dear Elspeth,
Very interesting question! There are probable several reasons for the differences in pattern of metastasizing you mention, including surface receptors, adhesion molecules and proteinases expressed by the tumor cells. However, several reports present data that the intratumoral formation of lymph vesssels (lymphangiogenesis) is different in different organs, see for example Anticancer Res 2009; 29: 1675 and Am J Pathol 2009; 175: 2235. Hence, it is not the density/number of lymph vessel in the original tissue. Whether this is also the reason why sarcomas almost never metastasize to lymph nodes I don’t know.
Dear Elspeth,
Very interesting question! There are probable several reasons for the differences in pattern of metastasizing you mention, including surface receptors, adhesion molecules and proteinases expressed by the tumor cells. However, several reports present data that the intratumoral formation of lymph vesssels (lymphangiogenesis) is different in different organs, see for example Anticancer Res 2009; 29: 1675 and Am J Pathol 2009; 175: 2235. Hence, it is not the density/number of lymph vessel in the original tissue. Whether this is also the reason why sarcomas almost never metastasize to lymph nodes I don’t know.