Expression data from collecting lymphatic vessels

Lymphogenous metastasis is an important event in the progression of many human cancers, and is associated with expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-D (VEGF-D). Changes to the lymphatic vasculature can occur during metastasis, and may aid metastatic spread. We investigated the effect of tumour derived VEGFD on the endothelium of the collecting lymphatic vessels draining primary tumors. We used microarrays to detail the changes in gene expression in the collecting lymphatic endothelium of mice with 293EBNA xenografts compared to 293EBNA xenografts overexpressing VEGFD. Mice were injected with 293EBNA cells (transfected with either empty APEX vector, or vector containing VEGFD) and tumours were allowed to grow to size. Mice were sacrificed and collecting lymphatic vessels were dissected. The endothelial cell population was isolated and RNA was extracted and hybridized on Affymetrix microarrays.