Thromb Haemost 2007; 98(02): 304-310
DOI: 10.1160/TH07-04-0238
Theme Issue Article
Schattauer GmbH

Lymphangiogenesis in development and disease

Ruediger Liersch
1   Department of Medicine, Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Muenster, Muenster, Germany
,
Michael Detmar
2   Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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Financial support: This work was supported by NIH grants CA69184 and CA92644 (MD), American Cancer Society Research Project Grant 99–23901 (MD), Swiss National Fund grant 3100A0–108207 (MD), Austrian Science Fund grant S9408-B11 (MD), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft grant LI 1602/1–1 (RL) and Fakultät für Innovative Medizinische Forschung grant LI 110633 (RL).
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Publikationsverlauf

Received 01. April 2007

Accepted after revision 09. Mai 2007

Publikationsdatum:
28. November 2017 (online)

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Summary

The lymphatic vascular system plays an important role in the maintenance of fluid homeostasis, in the afferent immune response, in the intestinal lipid uptake and in the metastatic spread of malignant cells. The recent discovery of specific markers and growth factors for lymphatic endothelium and the establishment of genetic mouse models with impairment of lymphatic function have provided novel insights into the molecular control of the lymphatic system in physiology and in embryonic development. They have also identified molecular pathways whose mutational inactivation leads to human diseases associated with lymphedema. Moreover, the lymphatic system plays a major role in chronic inflammatory diseases and in transplant rejection. Importantly, malignant tumors can directly promote lymphangiogenesis within the primary tumor and in draining lymph nodes, leading to enhanced cancer metastasis to lymph nodes and beyond. Based upon these findings, novel therapeutic strategies are currently being developed that aim at inhibiting or promoting the formation and function of lymphatic vessels in disease.