Tumor interstitial fluid and gastric cancer metastasis: An experimental study to verify the hypothesis of “tumor-phlegm microenvironment”

Objective To extract tumor interstitial fluid (TIF) from MKN-45 gastric cancer which is similar to “muddy phlegm” in Chinese medicine and observe influences of MKN-45 tumor interstitial fluid (MKN-45 TIF) intervention on metastasis of gastric cancer and on the expressions of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), kinase insert domain containing receptor (KDR), epithelial-cadherin (E-cad), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and telomerase genes and proteins in primary tumor tissue.