The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between the expression of
chemokine receptors CCR7 and CXCR4 and
vascular endothelial growth factor (
VEGF)-C and the
lymph node metastasis of pancreatic ductal
adenocarcinoma (PDAC). The
mRNA transcription levels of CCR7, CXCR4 and
VEGF-C were measured in 24 specimens by real-time reverse transcription (RT)-PCR, while the
protein expression levels were measured in 65 specimens by immuohistochemistry. Professional software for pathological image manipulation (Image Pro Plus 6.0) was used to quantitate the results of the immunohistochemical staining. The
mRNA and
protein expression levels of CCR7, CXCR4 and
VEGF-C were all significantly higher in the
cancer samples compared with those in the adjacent normal tissue. The CCR7 and
VEGF-C mRNA and
protein expression levels were significantly higher in the patients with
cancer types exhibiting
lymph node metastasis and an advanced International Union Against
Cancer (UICC) stage (P<0.05). The greater the number of metastatic lymph nodes, the higher the levels of CCR7 expression (P<0.05). There was a significant positive linear correlation between the
mRNA and
protein expression levels of CCR7 and
VEGF-C (P<0.05). The
mRNA and
protein expression levels of CXCR4 were not correlated with the
lymph node metastasis (P>0.05), however the strong positive expression of CCR7 and
VEGF-C was significantly associated with the
lymph node metastasis of PDAC.