Objective To explore the expression of endothelial growth factor-D (VEGF-D) and uroki-nase-type plasminogen activator(uPA) in rectal carcinoma and to reveal their correlation to the tumor invasion and metastasis.Methods The expression of VEGF-D and uPA in 30 cases with rectal carcinoma and normal tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blot.Results The expression of VEGF-D and uPA was de-tected both in tumor tissue and normal tissue, but significantly higher in tumor tissue (P < 0.01), they expressed mostly in endochylema.The expression of VEGF-D or uPA was significantly higher in Dukes' stage C + D than that in Dukes' stage A + B(P <0.01), was also higher in tissues with lymph node metastasis or distant metasta-sis than those without metastasis(P <0.05 ,P <0.01).They were found to be lower in cancer tissue along with the differentiation degree increase(P < 0.05) .Condnsions The overexpression of VEGF-D and uPA in rectal carcinoma may play an important part in the tumorigenesis and progression of rectal carcinoma.