We investigated the relationship between
claudin-1 and micro-lymphatic vessel density (MLVD) by detecting
claudin-1 and
protein D2-40 expression in
cancer tissue specimens obtained from 97 patients with
hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HSCC). We also explored the correlation between the expression of these
proteins and clinical
tumor stage, pathological grading, and clinical prognosis in the patients. Moreover, we studied the mechanism of
lymph node metastasis in HSCC, thereby providing information for treating HSCC and inhibiting
lymph node metastasis. We detected levels of
claudin-1 and
protein D2-40 expression in
cancer tissue from 97 patients with HSCC and para-
tumor tissue from 90 patients by immunohistochemistry; we analyzed the correlation between markers and clinicopathological features by using the Pearson chi-square test and conducted survival analysis by the log-rank test.
Claudin-1 expression was high in HSCC and was related to
tumor differentiation and
lymph node metastasis; Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that
claudin-1 expression was related to patient survival rate (P = 0.012). There was a significant relationship between MLVD in the tissues adjacent to the
carcinoma and the indices of histopathological grade, clinical stage, and
lymph node metastasis. There was also a positive correlation between
claudin-1 expression and MLVD. High expression of
claudin-1 might induce the generation of
tumor lymphatic vessels, which increases
metastasis in the lymph node. Because
claudin-1 is related to patient survival rate, it may be useful as a monitoring index for postoperative HSCC and might be a new target for treating the disease.