Growth patterns of small peripheral squamous cell carcinoma of the lung and their impacts on pathological and biological characteristics of tumor cells.

Abstract

PURPOSE:

The growth pattern of peripheral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the lung is divided into two types: alveolar space-filling (ASF) growth and alveolar space-destructive (ASD) growth. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinicopathological differences between cancer cells displaying ASF and ASD growth.

METHODS:

We analyzed 155 patients with peripheral SCC measuring 30 mm or less in diameter. The proportion of ASF in the total tumor area (%ASF) was determined using digital image analysis. We examined the clinicopathological characteristics of the cancer cells and compared the immunophenotypes of high %ASF tumors (> 30%) and low %ASF tumors (0%). Finally, we analyzed the prognostic impact of ASD area with small SCC cases (≤ 2.0 cm, n = 72).

RESULTS:

Cases of high %ASF tumors showed significantly lower frequencies of lymphovascular invasion (p = 0.008). Immunohistochemical staining revealed that the expression score of laminin-5, invasive-related molecule, in cancer cells was significantly lower in high %ASF cases than in low %ASF cases (p = 0.001). Within the same tumor, laminin-5 expression in the ASF area was significantly lower than that in the ASD area (p = 0.001). The overall 5-year survival rate of patients with a larger ASD area (> 1.0 cm2) was significantly lower than that of patients with a smaller ASD area (≤ 1.0 cm2) (p = 0.017).

CONCLUSIONS:

In this study, we clearly showed that cancer cells presenting with ASF represents a "less invasive phenotype" in peripheral SCC.

• Authors: Tomokazu Omori, Keiju Aokage, Hiroshi Nakamura, Shinya Katsumata, Tomohiro Miyoshi, Masato Sugano, Motohiro Kojima, Satoshi Fujii, Takeshi Kuwata, Atsushi Ochiai, Norihiko Ikeda, Masahiro Tsuboi, Genichiro Ishii
• Journal: Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology (J Cancer Res Clin Oncol) Vol. 145 Issue 7 Pg. 1773-1783 (Jul 2019) ISSN: 1432-1335 [Electronic] Germany
• PMID: 31115670 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Topics

• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Alveolar Epithelial Cells (pathology)
• Carcinoma, Squamous Cell (pathology)
• Female
• Humans
• Immunohistochemistry
• Lung Neoplasms (pathology)
• Male
• Middle Aged