Duncan L M, Richards L A, Mihm M C
Dermatopathology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
J Cutan Pathol. 1998 Jan;25(1):11-5. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0560.1998.tb01683.x.
Mast cell participation in immune responses, tumor progression, and vascularization has been studied extensively in vitro. In situ investigation of mast cells in routinely processed tissues is hampered by difficulty in reliable detection of mast cells. We studied the tissue density of mast cells using a morphometric point-counting technique in 1 microm-thick, Giemsa-stained, tissue sections from epon-embedded samples of skin biopsies. This technique has been demonstrated to be an accurate and reproducible method for determining mast cell density. Mast cell density in 15 cases of invasive melanoma was compared to that of 9 cases of benign melanocytic nevi and 4 cases of melanoma in situ. Mast cell density was greatest in invasive melanoma (mean density = 0.61 vol.%). The mean density of mast cells in nevi and in situ melanoma was 0.33 and 0.5 respectively. Six of 15 cases of melanoma had mast cell densities > 0.6, whereas mast cell density did not exceed 0.6 in any cases of melanoma in situ or benign melanocytic nevi (p < 0.02). Our findings confirm an increase in mast cell tissue density in some cases of invasive melanoma when compared to mast cell density in benign nevi and in situ melanoma.
肥大细胞在免疫反应、肿瘤进展和血管生成中的参与情况已在体外进行了广泛研究。在常规处理的组织中对肥大细胞进行原位研究受到难以可靠检测肥大细胞的阻碍。我们使用形态计量点计数技术，在从环氧树脂包埋的皮肤活检样本制备的1微米厚的吉姆萨染色组织切片中，研究了肥大细胞的组织密度。该技术已被证明是一种确定肥大细胞密度的准确且可重复的方法。将15例浸润性黑色素瘤的肥大细胞密度与9例良性黑素细胞痣和4例原位黑色素瘤的肥大细胞密度进行了比较。肥大细胞密度在浸润性黑色素瘤中最高（平均密度 = 0.61体积%）。痣和原位黑色素瘤中肥大细胞的平均密度分别为0.33和0.5。15例黑色素瘤中有6例肥大细胞密度>0.6，而原位黑色素瘤或良性黑素细胞痣的任何病例中肥大细胞密度均未超过0.6（p < 0.02）。我们的研究结果证实，与良性痣和原位黑色素瘤中的肥大细胞密度相比，某些浸润性黑色素瘤病例中的肥大细胞组织密度增加。
