Importantly, TUNEL staining revealed scarce apoptotic CD68+ immune cells (ranging from 0 to 2 CD68+TUNEL+ cells per tissue section) in both vehicle- and VEGF-C(C156S)–treated hearts on day 7 after MI (Figure 2, L–O), indicating that the effect of VEGF-C treatment was not due to increased apoptosis triggered by factors transported through the expanded lymphatic network. This evidence concerns the gene CD68 and myocardial infarction.