Lymphangiogenesis in Breast Cancer In Response : The letter by Van der Auwera et

vessel endothelial cell proliferation than breast carcinomas with an infiltrative growth pattern. There was also an association with the presence of a fibrotic focus, which is considered to be a marker of hypoxiadriven angiogenesis. These results and the recent observations that some of the angiogenic growth factors (eg, vascular endothelial growth factor-A, the angiopoietins, fibroblast growth factor-2 and platelet-derived growth factor-BB) also promote lymphangiogenesis are in favor of a possible link between both processes. Our results do suggest the occurrence of lymphangiogenesis in breast cancer and underscore an obvious need for a general consensus on the methodology of lymphangiogenesis quantification to determine the clinical significance of lymphangiogenesis in breast cancer.