Fig. 4.

Lymph node lymphangiogenesis promotes tumor cell adhesion in lymph nodes. (A) Lyve-1⁺ lymphatic vessels in saline- and VEGF-C–stimulated inguinal lymph nodes from wild-type (WT) and integrin α4Y991A mice (n = 10). (B) Mean ± SEM Lyve-1⁺ pixels per field from A. (C and D) Inguinal lymph nodes were stimulated for 5 d with VEGF-C or saline, and then mice were inoculated in the footpad with red fluorescent LLC cells. (C) Lyve1⁺ lymphatic vessels (green) and tumor cells (red) in stimulated inguinal lymph nodes. (D) Mean ± SEM red fluorescent pixels per field in lymph nodes (n = 10). (E) Red fluorescent tumor cells (arrowheads) in VEGF-C– or saline-stimulated inguinal lymph nodes from WT or α4Y991A animals (n = 8). (F) Mean ± SEM red fluorescent pixels per field. (Scale bar, 50 µm.)