Heparanase is tightly implicated in head and neck cancer progression; yet, molecular mechanisms underlying transcriptional activation of the heparanase gene in HNSCC are largely unknown.
Moreover, heparanase expression correlated with increased phospho-EGFR levels and progression of head and neck carcinoma, providing a strong clinical support for EGFR modulation by heparanase.
We hypothesized that similar to its proangiogenic capacity, heparanase is also engaged in lymphangiogenesis and utilized the D2-40 monoclonal antibody to study lymphangiogenesis in tumor specimens obtained from 65 head and neck carcinoma patients.