Abstract: Objective To research?the relationship between the existence of?tumor associated lymphangiogenesis in uveal melanoma (UM) tissues with the?histopathological risk factors of UM. Design Experimental?study.?Participants 55?paraffin embedded eyeball tissues of 55 UM patients?with perfect archived?clinical data in Beijing Tongren Hospital??from 2009 to?2014. Methods The?specific lymphatic endothelial?markers: LYVE-1?and D2-40, and Elivision immunohistochemical staining method,?were used to detect the?lymphatic?tissue and analyze its relationship with patients’ clinical?pathological?data in 55 UM cases.?The tumor’s lymphatic microvessel density (LMD) and microvessel density?(MVD) using CD-34 antibody were analyzed. Main Outcome Measures Lymphatic?positive rate of different UM?tissues,?LMD,?MVD. Results In?36 cases (65.5%)?of the 55?UM?tissues the?lymphatic vessels were observed. The lymphatic positive rate of tumor involving the?ciliary?body (95.0%) was significantly higher than that non-involving(48.6%) , and of tumor?spreading?outside the eyeball?(93.3%) higher than inside(55.0%) , and of tumor with bigger largest tumor?basal diameter (>16 mm)(82.4%) than the smaller (≤16 mm)(38.1%) , and of?with epithelioid?cell type(88.0%) higher?than non-epithelioid?cell type?(46.7%).?The difference all was statistically significant (P<0.05). And the difference of the lymphatic positive rate of UM?tissues was not statistically significant between different age (P=0.187), different gender (P=0.452), different eye (P=0.663), whether with iris neovascularization(P=0.935), with the secondary retinal detachment (P=0.641), with disc involvement (P=0.121), with invasion into the sclera(P=0.284), and whether receiving preoperative radiotherapy (P=0.483). The lymphatic microvessel density was positive correlation with microvessel density of UM (r=0.917, P<0.001).?Conclusion Tumor associated??lymphangiogenesis is in 2/3 cases of UM,??which may?play a role in?the?invasion and metastasis of?UM. To detect the lymphangiogenesis?of?UM with immunohistochemistry staining method may become?one of the important?index?to predict the prognosis. ?(Ophthalmol CHN, 2015, 24: 240-246)

Key words: uveal melanoma, lymphangiogenesis, histopathology