Clinicopathologic Features and Lymph Node Metastasis Pattern of the Cervical MiNEN

Background.Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common oral malignancy that preferentially spreads to the cervical lymph node which, when involved, complicates the anticancer therapy and threatens the patient life. It was suggested that lymph node metastasis may be facilitated by lymphangiogenesis. VEGF-C is one of the most important lymphangiogenic inducers that promotes the lymphatic vessels growth and supports the survival of adult lymphatic endothelial cells.Methods. Lymphatic vessels density (LVD) and LV morphometry were digitally evaluated using D2-40. The expression of VEGF-C was also assessed using immunohistochemistry and real-time polymerase chain reaction in 6 normal oral mucosa cases and 72 cases of OSCC. The correlation between LVD and LV morphometry, VEGF-C, and lymph node metastasis was statistically assessed.Results. A positive cytoplasmic expression of VEGF-C was detected in both epithelial and connective tissue cells in 97% of OSCC, while all normal tissues reacted negatively. A greater expression of VEGF-C was associated with larger and more dilated LV and lymph node metastasis but not with LVD.Conclusion. VEGF-C is actively involved in the invasion and metastasis of OSCC via inducing morphological changes in LV. VEGF-C may be a promising target for anticancer therapy.

AimsTo explore the expression of secretagogin (SCGN) in neuroendocrine carcinoma of the uterine cervix and analyse its relationship with clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis.MethodsFrom January 2010 to December 2017, 44 patients with cervical neuroendocrine carcinoma undergoing surgery were included in the study group, and 55 patients with cervical non-neuroendocrine carcinoma (including 30 cases of cervical squamous cell carcinoma and 25 cases of cervical adenocarcinoma) undergoing surgery were included in the control group. Immunohistochemical staining of SCGN was performed in both groups and compared with three common neuroendocrine markers, chromogranin A, synaptophysin (Syn) and CD56 in the study group. Detailed clinicopathological data of the two groups were analysed, and the patient survival in the study group was followed up.ResultsThe positive expression of SCGN in cervical neuroendocrine carcinoma, cervical adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma was 65.9% (29/44), 8% (2/25) and 0%, respectively. The positive expression of SCGN in cervical neuroendocrine carcinoma was significantly higher than that in cervical adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma (χ2=44.5, p<0.001). There were no statistical differences among the positive expression of SCGN and three common neuroendocrine markers (p>0.05 for all). The intensity of SCGN staining in patients with cervical neuroendocrine carcinoma with lymph node metastasis was significantly higher than that in patients without lymph node metastasis (p=0.020). However, there was no significant association between SCGN expression and survival among patients with cervical neuroendocrine carcinoma (p=0.633).ConclusionsSCGN is a new neuroendocrine marker for cervical neuroendocrine carcinoma, whose expression correlates with lymph node metastasis.

A cross sectional study of 29 cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma with or without  cervical lymph node metastasis was done among Bangladeshi patients from January 2006 to December 2007. Majority of the study subjects (34.5%) belonged to the age group of 40-49 years. 58.6% of the study subjects were male, while remaining 41.4% of them were female. 51.7% of the lesions were located in the alveolar ridge where the other common sites were buccal mucosa (27.6%) and retro molar area (13.8%). Half of the study subjects (51.7%) were habituated to betel quid chewing followed by 37.9% and 10.3% were habituated to smoking and betel quid-smoking respectively. Grade I lesions was most prevalent (75.9%) in the study subjects.  Majority of cases presented with Stage IV lesions (55.2%). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value & accuracy of clinical palpation method for determining metastatic cervical lymph nodes were 93.33%, 64.29%, 73.68%, 90% and 79.3% respectively. Careful and repeated clinical palpation plays important role in evaluation of cervical lymph nodes though several modern techniques may help additionally in the management of oral cancer.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/updcj.v1i2.13978 Update Dent. Coll. j. 2011: 1(2): 02-06