The study was conducted to clarify the expression and biological significance of VEGF-C and VEGFR-3 in human cervical cancer cell lines and to investigate the correlation between VEGF-C and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression in these cells. Flow cytometry, Western blotting, RT-PCR, cell immunochemistry assay, cell proliferation assay, in vitro invasion assay and cell immunochemistry assay were used to detect the gene expression and to evaluate the biological features in test cell lines. VEGF-C expression was low while VEGFR-3 was quiet high in all cell lines detected. COX-2 expression coincided with that of VEGF-C. Recombinant human VEFG-C-treated HeLa cells showed increased proliferation and invasion in a dose-depended manner while NS398, a specific inhibitor of COX-2, blocked the invasive ability of HeLa. VEGF-C and its VEGFR-3 played a crucial role in the regulation of tumor growth and metastasis in cervical cell lines, and COX-2 might be a regulator of VEGF-C expression.

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