| description |
The lymphatic vascular system plays a pivotal role in the maintenance of tissue fluid balance and in the mediation of the immune response. Compared to the well-studied blood vascular system, however, relatively little is known about its role in disease and about the molecular regulation of lymphangiogenesis, the growth of new lymphatic vessels. Impaired function of lymphatic vessels, leading to lymphedema, is a major health problem and occurs in up to 30% of breast cancer patients after surgical lymph node excision. Lymphedema is associated with arm swelling, fibrosis, increased risk of infection and impaired wound healing. At present, there are no curative therapies for post- surgical lymphedema, and even symptomatic therapies have little beneficial effect. Thus, there is an urgent need to better understand the mechanisms of lymphatic drainage and vessel formation, and to develop new therapeutic strategies to promote lymphatic vessel function after surgery.To unravel the pathomechanisms underlying lymphedema development a mouse tail lymphedema model was used. Lymphedema was induced by removing a 3-4mm circumferential portion of skin apprx. 2cm distal to the tail base and disrupting the collecting lymphatic vessels adjacent to the lateral veins. Lymphedema developed within about 1 week and lasted for at least 6 weeks. Transcriptomic evaluation was performed 2 and 6 weeks post-operatively harvesting a 2-3mm portion of skin ca. 0.5-1cm distal to the surgical excision margin. Tissue from un-operated mice served as control. |