Reply: lymph stasis promotes tumor growth

Our study suggested that surgical damage of the lymphatic system promotes tumor progression via impaired immune response [1]. However, as pointed out by Valerio et al., lymph stasis is likely to induce immune stasis, resulting in not only enhanced tumor growth but also tumor generation [2,3]. In addition, bacterial infections often develop in the lymphedematous lesion, which would be mainly caused by immune suppression due to lymph stasis [2].