VEGFC and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes: NF-κB expression in tumor cells was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis (χ2 = 32.727, P = 0.001), LVD (χ2 = 4.312, P = 0.038), VEGF-C expression (χ2 = 4.241, P = 0.039), podoplanin expression (χ2 = 8.076, P = 0.004), and Notch1 expression (χ2 = 9.675, P = 0.002).