Department of Ophthalmology, Medical School, University of Patras, Patras, Greece.
Neurosurgery Department, James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, U.K.
In Vivo. 2022 Sep-Oct;36(5):2143-2148. doi: 10.21873/invivo.12940.
BACKGROUND/AIM: Mechanisms of c-FOS activation in the onset and progression of pterygia remain under investigation. This study aimed to comparatively analyze c-FOS proto-oncogene expression levels in neoplastic pterygia and normal epithelia.
We used a liquid-based cytology assay on thirty (n=30) pterygia cell populations and normal epithelia (n=10) extracted by a smooth scraping of conjunctiva epithelia. Applying a cell spot-based technique, we constructed five (n=5) slides, each containing eight (n=8) cell spots. A modified immune-cytochemistry (ICC) assay for c-FOS protein was used. Additionally, digital image analysis was implemented to calculate c-FOS immunostaining intensity levels.
High staining intensity levels of c-FOS were detected in 12/30 (40%), whereas the rest 18/30 (60%) demonstrated moderate expression. c-FOS levels were statistically significantly higher in the pterygia compared to control tissues (p=0.001). c-FOS levels in the pterygia were not associated with the sex of patients (p=0.678), the presence of recurrent lesion (p=0.390) or the location of the lesion (p=0.158). The levels of c-FOS, however, were marginally significantly affected by the morphology of the pterygia (p=0.005). More precisely, the c-FOS levels were significantly higher in pterygia with a fleshy morphology.
c-FOS over-expression is observed frequently in pterygia. It seems to be critically involved in the molecular mechanism of the lesion by its over-expression affecting partially their morphological features. Cell spot liquid - based array analysis is an innovative, easy to implement technique for simultaneously evaluating a broad spectrum of molecules in multiple specimens on the same slide.
背景/目的：翼状胬肉发病和进展过程中 c-FOS 的激活机制仍在研究中。本研究旨在比较分析肿瘤性翼状胬肉和正常上皮组织中 c-FOS 原癌基因的表达水平。
我们使用液体基细胞学检测法对 30 例（n=30）翼状胬肉细胞群和通过平滑刮取结膜上皮提取的 10 例正常上皮细胞（n=10）进行研究。应用细胞斑点技术，我们构建了 5 个（n=5）载玻片，每个载玻片包含 8 个（n=8）细胞斑点。采用改良的免疫细胞化学（ICC）法检测 c-FOS 蛋白。此外，还进行了数字图像分析以计算 c-FOS 免疫染色强度水平。
在 30 例中，有 12 例（40%）显示高染色强度的 c-FOS，而其余 18 例（60%）显示中度表达。与对照组相比，翼状胬肉中的 c-FOS 水平显著升高（p=0.001）。翼状胬肉中 c-FOS 水平与患者的性别（p=0.678）、病变是否复发（p=0.390）或病变位置（p=0.158）无关。然而，c-FOS 水平受到翼状胬肉形态的轻微显著影响（p=0.005）。更确切地说，具有肉质形态的翼状胬肉中 c-FOS 水平显著升高。
在翼状胬肉中经常观察到 c-FOS 的过度表达。它似乎通过其过度表达而部分影响其形态特征，从而在病变的分子机制中起关键作用。细胞斑点液基阵列分析是一种创新的、易于实施的技术，可在同一张载玻片上同时评估多种标本中的广泛分子。
