TY - JOUR

T1 - Single cell migration in oral squamous cell carcinoma - possible evidence of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in vivo

AU - Jensen, David H

AU - Reibel, Jesper

AU - Mackenzie, Ian C

AU - Dabelsteen, Erik

N1 - © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2015/10

Y1 - 2015/10

N2 - BACKGROUND: The invasion of cancer cells into the surrounding normal tissue is one of the defining features of cancer. While the phenomena of tumour budding, epithelial-mesenchymal transition and the presence of myofibroblasts have independently been shown to be related to a poor prognosis of oral carcinomas, their relationship has not been examined in detail.METHODS: Paraffin-embedded tissues from 28 patients with oral squamous cell carcinomas were stained with antibodies to cytokeratin, α-SMA, vimentin, E-cadherin, N-cadherin and Twist and evaluated for their expression in relation to invasive cancer cells and the surrounding tumour stroma.RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: A direct, histological relationship between invading, budding tumour cells and myofibroblasts was occasionally seen but was not a general feature. Most of the budding tumour cells at the invasive front had a decreased expression of E-cadherin, but we did not find that this was associated with a consistent or clear increase in either N-cadherin or vimentin. We therefore suggest that the budding of tumour cells is not dependent upon either myofibroblasts or a complete epithelial-mesenchymal transition and that these phenomena most likely represent separate processes in tumour progression.

AB - BACKGROUND: The invasion of cancer cells into the surrounding normal tissue is one of the defining features of cancer. While the phenomena of tumour budding, epithelial-mesenchymal transition and the presence of myofibroblasts have independently been shown to be related to a poor prognosis of oral carcinomas, their relationship has not been examined in detail.METHODS: Paraffin-embedded tissues from 28 patients with oral squamous cell carcinomas were stained with antibodies to cytokeratin, α-SMA, vimentin, E-cadherin, N-cadherin and Twist and evaluated for their expression in relation to invasive cancer cells and the surrounding tumour stroma.RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: A direct, histological relationship between invading, budding tumour cells and myofibroblasts was occasionally seen but was not a general feature. Most of the budding tumour cells at the invasive front had a decreased expression of E-cadherin, but we did not find that this was associated with a consistent or clear increase in either N-cadherin or vimentin. We therefore suggest that the budding of tumour cells is not dependent upon either myofibroblasts or a complete epithelial-mesenchymal transition and that these phenomena most likely represent separate processes in tumour progression.

U2 - 10.1111/jop.12321

DO - 10.1111/jop.12321

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 25880532

VL - 44

SP - 674

EP - 679

JO - Journal of Oral Pathology and Medicine

JF - Journal of Oral Pathology and Medicine

SN - 0904-2512

IS - 9

ER -