A method for treating and alleviating disease characterized by the expression of VEGF-D involving screening to find an organism with tumor cells expressing VEGF-D and administering an effective amount of a VEGF-D antagonist; a method for screening for neoplastic diseas, where detection of VEGF-D on or in a sample such as tumor cells, blood vessel endothelial cells or lymph vessel endothelial cells indicates neoplastic disease; a method for promoting and maintaining vascularization of normal tissue in an organism involving administering a vascularization promoting amount of VEGF-D or a fragment or analog thereof to the organism; a method for screening tumors for metastatic risk involving detecting expression of VEFG-D by a tumor which indicates metastatic risk; and a method of detecting micro-metastasis of neoplastic disease involving detection of VEGF-D on or in a tissue sample which indicates metastasis of a neoplastic disease.