We investigated the expression of neuropilin-1 (NRP1), neuropilin-2 (NRP2), vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A), semaphorin-3A (Sema-3A), and semaphorin-3F (Sema-3F) in normal salivary gland (NSG) tissue, nonmetastatic salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma (SACC), and metastatic SACC to better understand their role in intratumoral angiogenesis and hematogenous metastasis of SACC.
The expression levels of SEMA3A were lower in the cancer tissues with III/IV stage [the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage], poor histological grade, lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis compared to that in the cancer tissues with I/II stage (FIGO), well histological grade, or without lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis (P<0.05).
We further show that the expression of the receptor neuropilin-1 in tumor cells is required for SEMA3A-dependent inhibition of tumor cell migration in vitro and metastatic spreading in vivo.