肺鳞癌肿瘤浸润前沿细胞的EMT表型特点及临床意义

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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). CONCLUSION: 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.