Department of Histopathology, Institute of Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Laboratory of Molecular Immunopharmacology and Drug Discovery, Department of Integrative Physiology and Pathobiology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol. 2014 Apr-Jun;27(2):213-20. doi: 10.1177/039463201402700208.
Increasing evidence indicates that tumor microenvironment (TME) is crucial in tumor survival and metastases. Inflammatory cells accumulate around tumors and strangely appear to be permissive to their growth. One key stroma cell is the mast cell (MC), which can secrete numerous pro- and antitumor molecules. We investigated the presence and degranulation state of MC in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) as compared to acute ancreatitis (AP). Three different detection methods: (a) toluidine blue staining, as well as immunohistochemistry for (b) tryptase and (c) c-kit, were utilized to assess the number and extent of degranulation of MC in PDAC tissue (n=7), uninvolved pancreatic tissue derived from tumor-free margins (n=7) and tissue form AP (n=4). The number of MC detected with all three methods was significantly increased in PDAC, as compared to normal pancreatic tissue derived from tumor-free margins (p<0.05). The highest number of MC was identified by c-kit, 22.2∓7.5 per high power field (HPF) in PDAC vs 9.7∓5.1 per HPF in normal tissue. Contrary to MC in AP, where most of the detected MC were found degranulated, MC in PDAC appeared intact. In conclusion, MC are increased in number, but not degranulated in PDAC, suggesting that they may contribute to cancer growth by permitting selective release of pro-tumorogenic molecules.
越来越多的证据表明，肿瘤微环境（TME）对肿瘤的存活和转移至关重要。炎症细胞在肿瘤周围聚集，奇怪的是，它们似乎对肿瘤的生长有促进作用。一种关键的基质细胞是肥大细胞（MC），它可以分泌许多促肿瘤和抗肿瘤分子。我们研究了胰腺导管腺癌（PDAC）与急性胰腺炎（AP）相比 MC 的存在和脱颗粒状态。采用三种不同的检测方法：（a）甲苯胺蓝染色，以及（b）类胰蛋白酶和（c）c-kit 的免疫组织化学，评估 PDAC 组织（n=7）、来自无肿瘤边缘的未受累胰腺组织（n=7）和组织中 MC 的数量和脱颗粒程度来自 AP（n=4）。与无肿瘤边缘的正常胰腺组织相比，所有三种方法检测到的 MC 数量在 PDAC 中均显著增加（p<0.05）。通过 c-kit 鉴定的 MC 数量最多，PDAC 中每高倍镜视野（HPF）为 22.2∓7.5，正常组织中为 9.7∓5.1。与 AP 中的 MC 不同，AP 中大多数检测到的 MC 都被发现脱颗粒，而 PDAC 中的 MC 似乎完好无损。总之，MC 在数量上增加，但在 PDAC 中不脱颗粒，这表明它们可能通过允许选择性释放促肿瘤分子来促进肿瘤生长。
