Department of Pathology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Craiova, Romania.
Histol Histopathol. 2010 Jun;25(6):701-11. doi: 10.14670/HH-25.701.
Podoplanin is involved in tumorigenesis and cancer progression in head and neck malignancies and its expression is not restricted to lymphatic vessel endothelium. The aim of this study was to establish podoplanin expression in the tumor-free resection margins of oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs) and to evaluate the geometric complexity of the lymphatic vessels in oral mucosa by utilizing fractal analysis. As concerns the podoplanin expression in noncancerous tissue, forty tumor-free resection margins from OSCCs were investigated utilizing immunohistochemistry for D2-40 antibody and image densitometry analysis. Podoplanin expression was extremely low in basal cells, especially in resection margins of OSCCs developed in the lower lip regions. However, a highly variable D2-40 expression in tumor-free resection margins associated with hyperplastic or dysplastic lesions was identified. Moreover, podoplanin expression also extended to the basal layer of the lower lip skin appendages, the myoepithelial cells of acini and ducts of minor salivary glands, and other structures from the oral cavity. As concerns the study of the density and complexity of oral lymphatic vessels architecture by means of immunohistochemistry (D2-40, CD31 and Ki-67 antibodies) and fractal analysis, we demonstrated that in normal oral mucosa the geometry of the lymphatic vessels was less complex at the level of the lower lip compared to the anterior part of the oral floor mucosa or the tongue. A comparative analysis between the normal and pathological aspects revealed statistically significant differences between the fractal dimension (FD) of the vessels' outline, especially in the tongue. Fractal analysis proved an increasing lymphatic network complexity from normal to premalignant oral mucosal lesions, providing additional prognostic information in oral malignant tumors.
足突蛋白参与头颈部恶性肿瘤的发生和癌症进展，其表达不仅限于淋巴管内皮细胞。本研究旨在建立口腔鳞状细胞癌（OSCC）无肿瘤切缘中足突蛋白的表达，并通过分形分析评估口腔黏膜中淋巴管的几何复杂性。关于非癌组织中的足突蛋白表达，利用 D2-40 抗体进行免疫组织化学和图像密度分析，研究了 40 例 OSCC 无肿瘤切缘。在 OSCC 下唇区域的无肿瘤切缘中，基底细胞中的足突蛋白表达极低，但在伴有增生或发育不良病变的无肿瘤切缘中，D2-40 表达高度可变。此外，足突蛋白的表达还延伸到下唇皮肤附属物的基底层、小涎腺腺泡和导管的肌上皮细胞以及口腔中的其他结构。关于通过免疫组织化学（D2-40、CD31 和 Ki-67 抗体）和分形分析研究口腔淋巴管结构的密度和复杂性，我们表明在正常口腔黏膜中，与口腔底黏膜前部分或舌部相比，下唇的淋巴管几何形状较为简单。正常与病理方面的比较分析显示，尤其是在舌部，血管轮廓的分形维数（FD）存在统计学差异。分形分析证明，从正常到癌前口腔黏膜病变的淋巴管网络复杂性增加，为口腔恶性肿瘤提供了额外的预后信息。
