Molecular Mechanisms of Lymphangiogenesis in Development and Disease.

淋巴管是心血管系统的重要组成部分，对胚胎发育和成人健康起着至关重要的作用。这些包括：1；组织液和蛋白质的吸收、运输和返回血液。2. 消化从消化道吸收和运输脂质3. 抵抗感染的免疫系统细胞的运输。淋巴管的发育和功能异常与许多人类疾病有关。这些疾病包括原发性和继发性淋巴水肿、炎性疾病，如牛皮癣、类风湿性关节炎和哮喘，以及淋巴管恶性肿瘤，如淋巴管肉瘤和卡波西氏肉瘤。由于肿瘤细胞利用淋巴管作为转移的运输途径，淋巴管对许多形式的癌症的进展也至关重要。因此，涉及淋巴管的疾病影响着相当大比例的澳大利亚人口。我们目前对淋巴血管网络在胚胎发育期间的构建机制以及在疾病状态下的失调机制的了解非常有限。一旦确定了疾病起源的分子机制，就可以设计出治疗淋巴血管疾病患者急需的新疗法。针对防止淋巴管异常生长的治疗对于阻止肿瘤转移和炎症性疾病的进展至关重要，而针对刺激新淋巴管发育的治疗对于治疗淋巴管发育不良的疾病（如淋巴水肿）是必要的。本项目旨在增进我们对淋巴血管发育和功能的了解，从而为各种淋巴管疾病患者提供受益的机会。

Lymphatic vessels are a vital component of the cardiovascular system and serve several functions critical to embryonic development and adult health. These include: 1. The uptake, transport and return to the bloodstream of tissue fluid and protein. 2. The uptake and transport of lipids from the digestive tract. 3. The transport of cells of the immune system that fight infection. Abnormalities in the development and function of lymphatic vessels are associated with a large number of human diseases. These include primary and secondary lymphoedema, inflammatory diseases such as psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis and and asthma, and malignancies of the lymphatic vessels such as lymphangiosarcoma and Kaposi's sarcoma. Lymphatic vessels are also critical for the progression of many forms of cancer, by virtue of the fact that tumour cells exploit lymphatic vessels as a transport route for metastases. Diseases in which lymphatic vessels are involved therefore impact on a significant proportion of the Australian population. Our current knowledge of the mechanisms by which the lymphatic vascular network is constructed during embryonic development, and deregulated in disease states, is extremely limited. Once the molecular mechanisms of disease origin are established, much needed novel therapeutics to treat patients suffering from lymphatic vascular diseases can be designed. Treatments targeted to prevent the aberrant growth of lymphatic vessels are vital to halt tumour metastasis and the progress of inflammatory diseases, while treatments targeted to stimulate the development of new lymphatic vessels are necessary to treat diseases in which lymphatic vessels are hypoplastic, such as lymphoedema. This project aims to advance our understanding of lymphatic vascular development and function, in order to provide the opportunity to benefit patients suffering from all spectrums of lymphatic vascular disease.