VEGFD and cancer: A large number of clinical studies have demonstrated that the expression levels of VEGF-C/VEGF-D are markedly associated with lymphangiogenesis and lymph node metastasis in various types of cancers, including breast, ovarian, lung, and colon cancer [8]; their forced expression in cancer cells was shown to induce tumor lymphangiogenesis and lymph node metastasis in a preclinical model [9,10].