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The present study aimed to evaluate the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) in human cholangiocarcinoma tissues and its role in metastasis in vitro. A total of 65 biopsy samples of cholangiocarcinoma, plus the FRH-0201 cell line, were investigated. The expression of VEGF-C in the human cholangiocarcinoma specimens was evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC). The effect of VEGF-C on tumor cell migration and proliferation was measured by MTT and Transwell assays in the FRH-0201 cell line. According to the IHC results, the biopsies of human cholangiocarcinoma were stained positively for VEGF-C, with a positive rate of 75.4% (49/65). Moreover, VEGF-C was expressed at a higher level in the patients with lymph node metastasis than in those without lymph node metastasis. In vitro, VEGF-C exhibited marked growth stimulation below the concentration of 5 ng/ml and was able to promote cholangiocarcinoma cell migration significantly. These findings suggested that VEGF-C may be a useful factor to predict lymph node metastasis in cholangiocarcinoma tissues and indicates that VEGF-C plays a significant role in proliferation and migration in cholangiocarcinoma cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]