LYVE-1 is abundant in spleen, lymph node, heart, lung and fetal liver, LYVE-1 binds to both soluble and immobilized hyaluronan with greater specificity than CD44. Like CD44,the LYVE-1 molecule binds both soluble and immobilized HA. However, unlike CD44, the LYVE-1 molecule co-localizes with HA on the luminal face of the lymph vessel wall and is completely absent from blood vessels. Hence, LYVE-1 is the first lymph-specific HA receptor to be characterized and is a uniquely powerful marker for lymph vessels themselves. LYVE-1 is used as a marker to study tumor lymphangiogenesis, which is an important area of investigation.
