Figure 5: Blocking LYVE-1 suppresses corneal lymphangiogenesis in Mmp14^−/− mice.

The cell proliferation (a) and cell migration (b) were examined for the responses of LECs from WT and Mmp14^−/− mice to the stimulation of either HA or FGF2. The cells were cultured either with or without the neutralizing antibody against LYVE-1 (*P<0.05; **P<0.01; ***P<0.001, n=3, two-tailed t-test). (c) Cell-matrix adhesion. WT and Mmp14^−/− LECs were pre-incubated with or without the neutralizing antibody against LYVE-1 and seeded in the wells coated with either HA (200 μg ml⁻¹) or gelatin (50 μg ml⁻¹). The adhered cells were counted and shown as relative units (*P<0.05, n=3, two-tailed t-test). (d) Morphometric comparison of corneal lymph vascularized areas in WT and Mmp14^−/− mice treated with or without intraperitoneal injection of neutralizing antibodies against either VEGFR3 or LYVE-1. Quantification of percentage in vascularized areas over the whole corneas was shown in e (*P<0.05; **P<0.01, n=5, two-tailed t-test). Scale bars, 200 μm. The statistical analyses were performed by two-tailed, unpaired Student’s t-test. Data represent the mean±s.e.m. The experiments were repeated at least three times.