VEGFC and neoplasm: These findings may be insufficient to determine the significance of VEGF-C for inducing tumor lymphangiogenesis in our animal model; however, VEGF-C expression in EBC-1 cells is thought to be a key factor to induce tumor-associated lymphangiogenesis, and podoplanin-mediated downregulation of the VEGF-C gene might be a possible mechanism underlying the different levels of lymphangiogenic activity between EBC1-Vs and EBC1-Ps.