Song Yinghua, Zhang Caiqing, Cao Zhixin, Xu Jiawen, Wang Lingcheng, Lin Xiaoyan
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Ji'nan 250014, China.
Department of Pathology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Ji'nan 250021, China.
Zhongguo Fei Ai Za Zhi. 2014 Apr;17(4):315-20. doi: 10.3779/j.issn.1009-3419.2014.04.05.
The invasive tumor front (ITF) refers to cells or invasive nests in the junctional region of a tumor and its host. The ITF contains the most invasive cells of a tumor, and has a high prognostic value in carcinoma. The aim of this study is to investigate the epithelial-mesenchymal transformation phenotype in ITF cells of lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and analyze the relationship between clinicopathological features and clinical outcomes of patients.
Semiquantitative immunohistochemistry was used to examine the expression of epithelial markers (E-cadherin and β-catenin) and mesenchymal marker (vimentin) in 104 lung SCC tumor tissues.
A decrease in E-cadherin expression in ITF cells was observed in 56 of 104 (53.8%) tumors from patients. This result was markedly lower than that of non-ITF cells, which eventually developed metastatic tumors and were also associated with death (P=0.04). Vimentin expression was observed in 44 of 104 (42.3%) ITF cells, which was much higher than that of non-ITF cells. The downregulation of E-cadherin and overexpression of vimentin were associated with tumor invasive pattern, lymphatic metastasis, and poor prognosis (P<0.01). The expression of β-catenin was 67.3% (70/104) in ITF cells. Moreover, ITF cells showed more nuclear and plasma-positive cells, which were closely associated with metastasis (P<0.01).
The loss in expression of E-cadherin/β-catenin and overexpression of vimentin in ITF cells may be associated with poor prognosis of lung SCC patients.
侵袭性肿瘤前沿（ITF）指肿瘤与其宿主交界区域的细胞或侵袭性巢团。ITF包含肿瘤中侵袭性最强的细胞，对癌症具有较高的预后价值。本研究旨在探讨肺鳞状细胞癌（SCC）ITF细胞中的上皮-间质转化表型，并分析患者临床病理特征与临床结局之间的关系。
采用半定量免疫组织化学法检测104例肺SCC肿瘤组织中上皮标志物（E-钙黏蛋白和β-连环蛋白）和间质标志物（波形蛋白）的表达。
在104例患者的肿瘤中，有56例（53.8%）观察到ITF细胞中E-钙黏蛋白表达降低。这一结果明显低于非ITF细胞，非ITF细胞最终发展为转移性肿瘤且与死亡相关（P = 0.04）。在104例ITF细胞中有44例（42.3%）观察到波形蛋白表达，这一表达远高于非ITF细胞。E-钙黏蛋白下调和波形蛋白过表达与肿瘤侵袭模式、淋巴转移及预后不良相关（P < 0.01）。ITF细胞中β-连环蛋白的表达为67.3%（70/104）。此外，ITF细胞显示出更多核阳性和胞质阳性细胞，这与转移密切相关（P < 0.01）。
ITF细胞中E-钙黏蛋白/β-连环蛋白表达缺失和波形蛋白过表达可能与肺SCC患者的不良预后相关。
