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

A novel histopathological feature of spatial tumor-stroma distribution predicts lung squamous cell carcinoma prognosis

We used a mathematical approach to investigate the quantitative spatial profile of cancer cells and stroma in lung squamous cell carcinoma tissues and its clinical relevance. The study enrolled 132 patients with 3-5 cm peripheral lung squamous cell carcinoma, resected at the National Cancer Center Hospital East. We utilized machine learning to segment cancer cells and stroma on cytokeratin AE1/3 immunohistochemistry images. Subsequently, a spatial form of Shannon's entropy was employed to precisely quantify the spatial distribution of cancer cells and stroma. This quantification index was defined as the spatial tumor-stroma distribution index (STSDI). The patients were classified as STSDI-low and -high groups for clinicopathological comparison. The STSDI showed no significant association with baseline clinicopathological features, including sex, age, pathological stage, and lymphovascular invasion. However, the STSDI-low group had significantly shorter recurrence-free survival (5-years RFS: 49.5% vs. 76.2%, p < 0.001) and disease-specific survival (5-years DSS: 53.6% vs. 81.5%, p < 0.001) than the STSDI-high group. In contrast, the application of Shannon's entropy without spatial consideration showed no correlation with patient outcomes. Moreover, low STSDI was an independent unfavorable predictor of tumor recurrence and disease-specific death (RFS; HR = 2.668, p < 0.005; DSS; HR = 3.057, p < 0.005), alongside the pathological stage. Further analysis showed a correlation between low STSDI and destructive growth patterns of cancer cells within tumors, potentially explaining the aggressive nature of STSDI-low tumors. In this study, we presented a novel approach for histological analysis of cancer tissues that revealed the prognostic significance of spatial tumor-stroma distribution in lung squamous cell carcinoma.

Case report: Pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma demonstrating rapid growth on follow-up CT

Background

The tumor growth rate and tumor volume doubling time are crucial parameters in diagnosing and managing lung lesions. Pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma (PSC) is a unique and highly malignant subtype of lung cancer, with limited documentation on its growth feature. This article aims to address the gap in knowledge regarding a PSC's growth patterns by describing the characteristics of a confirmed case using computed tomography, thereby enhancing the understanding of this rare disease.

Case presentation

A 79-year-old man was transferred to our center presenting with a mild cough, blood-tinged sputum, and a malignant nodule in the left upper lobe. Chest CT revealed a solid nodule in the left upper lobe. A follow-up CT ten days later showed a significant increase in the size of the nodule, accompanied by ground-glass opacity in the surrounding lung. The rapid preoperative growth of the nodule suggested a non-neoplastic lesion, and intraoperative frozen pathology also considered the possibility of tuberculosis. Subsequently, a left upper apical-posterior segment (S1 + 2) resection was performed. Postoperative tumor pathology confirmed the diagnosis of pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma with extensive giant cell carcinoma and necrosis. Immunohistochemistry indicated approximately 60% PD-L1 positive and genetic testing revealed a MET mutation. The patient was discharged with oral crizotinib targeted therapy, and his condition remained stable postoperatively. The patient is currently undergoing regular follow-up at our hospital, with no evidence of distant metastasis or recurrence.

Conclusion

Pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma can exhibit rapid tumor growth on imaging, and PSC should be considered in the differential diagnosis for lesions that present with a fast growth rate. Timely and appropriate treatment for PSC may lead to a good prognosis.

Detection of Changes in CEA and ProGRP Levels in BALF of Patients with Peripheral Lung Cancer and the Relationship with CT Signs

Objective

To investigate the relationship between the detection of changes in the levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and progastrin-releasing peptide (ProGRP) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and CT signs in patients with peripheral lung cancer.

Methods

Retrospective analysis of 108 patients with perihilar lung cancer who attended our hospital from January 2019 to January 2022, 54 cases were randomly selected as the observation group and 50 cases as the control group. Patients in both groups received CT examination and BALF test at the same time to observe and compare the differences in serum levels, the relationship between CT signs and serum indices, and the diagnostic value of peripheral lung cancer between the two groups.

Results

The serum levels of ProGrp, CEA, CA211, and NSE in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The morphology, density, mass enhancement pattern, bronchial morphology, obstructive signs, and lymph node fusion of CT signs were compared between the observation group and the control group, indicating that CT signs were more helpful for the localization, diagnosis, and staging of lung cancer. The results of ROC curve analysis showed that the AUC value of low-dose CT combined with serum ProGrp, CEA, CA211, and NSE was 0.892, sensitivity was 96.21%, and specificity of 90.05%, which were significantly higher than those of the single tests, respectively. The positive likelihood ratio was 84.41% and the negative likelihood ratio was 87.11%.

Conclusion

The combination of CT signs and serum tumour markers helps to improve the detection rate, sensitivity, and specificity of lung cancer, which has a high diagnostic rate for lung cancer and may provide evidence for the early diagnosis of lung cancer.

Frequent EGFR exon 20 insertion in the so-called peripheral-type squamous cell neoplasm of uncertain malignant potential: a variant of bronchiolar adenoma or under-recognised entity?

INTRODUCTION

Herein we describe a series of rare peripheral pulmonary neoplasms temporarily termed "peripheral type squamous cell neoplasm of uncertain malignant potential (PSCN-UMP)" and investigate their relationship to bronchiolar adenoma (BA) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The histologic and immunohistochemical features of 10 PSCN-UMPs and six BAs were compared. Whole exome sequencing (WES) and bioinformatics analysis were performed to further compare the genetic features of PSCN-UMPs, BAs, and NSCLCs.

RESULTS

All PSCN-UMPs were peripherally located and histologically characterised by the lepidic, nested, and papillary proliferation of relatively bland squamous cells, accompanied by entrapped hyperplastic reactive pneumocytes. The basal squamous cells coexpressed TTF1 and squamous markers. Both cellular components exhibited bland morphology and a low proliferative activity. The six BAs met the morphologic and immunophenotypic features of proximal-type BA. Genetically, driver mutations, including frequent EGFR exon 20 insertions, were found in PSCN-UMPs, while the KRAS mutation, BRAF mutation, and ERC1::RET fusion were detected in BAs. PSCN-UMPs also shared some alterations with BAs in mutational signatures, while copy number variants (CNV) were enriched in MET and NKX2-1 in PSCN-UMP and MCL1, MECOM, SGK1, and PRKAR1A in BA.

CONCLUSION

PSCN-UMPs exhibited the proliferation of bland squamous cells accompanied by entrapped pneumocytes and frequent EGFR exon 20 insertions, which showed distinct features from BAs and SCCs. Recognition of this specific entity will help to expand the morphologic and molecular spectrum of peripheral lung squamous neoplasms.

Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase/Protein Kinase B/Mammalian Target of the Rapamycin Pathway-Related Protein Expression in Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Its Correlation with Lymph Node Metastasis

The targeted therapy of lung squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), a pathological type of non-small-cell lung cancer, is relatively lacking by contrast with lung adenocarcinoma. The overexpression or inhibition of intracellular signaling pathways leads to disease. To evaluate genes for a targeted therapy in LSCC, we analyzed PI3K pathway components in LSCC tissues and found elevated PI3K levels in LSCC tissues compared with adjacent counterparts. A comparison of PI3K levels in tissues with and without metastasis revealed that the PI3K pathway activity was greatly increased in metastatic tissues. Our findings suggest that the metastasis of cancer cells in patients with LSCC is closely related to the overexpression of PI3K pathway components in cancer tissues. We performed in vitro cell culture experiments and found that inhibition of PI3K activity decreased proliferation and increased apoptosis in H520 cells, suggesting that PI3K pathway inhibition limits LSCC cell proliferation. We hypothesize that LSCC metastasis is related to the overexpression of PI3K pathway components and inhibiting this pathway may help reduce the risk of lymph node metastasis in LSCC patients.

Primary tumor location in lung cancer: the evaluation and administration

ABSTRACT

Lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer-related death in the world, which is classically subgrouped into two major histological types: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (85% of patients) and small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) (15%). Tumor location has been reported to be associated with the prognosis of various solid tumors. Several types of cancer often occur in a specific region and are more prone to spread to predilection locations, including colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, gastric cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, bladder cancer, lung tumor, and so on. Besides, tumor location is also considered as a risk factor for lung neoplasm with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/emphysema. Additionally, the primary lung cancer location is associated with specific lymph node metastasis. And the recent analysis has shown that the primary location may affect metastasis pattern in metastatic NSCLC based on a large population. Numerous studies have enrolled the "location" factor in the risk model. Anatomy location and lobe-specific location are both important in prognosis. Therefore, it is important for us to clarify the characteristics about tumor location according to various definitions. However, the inconsistent definitions about tumor location among different articles are controversial. It is also a significant guidance in multimode therapy in the present time. In this review, we mainly aim to provide a new insight about tumor location, including anatomy, clinicopathology, and prognosis in patients with lung neoplasm.

Significance of preoperative biopsy in radiological solid-dominant clinical stage I non-small-cell lung cancer

OBJECTIVES

The present study aimed to clarify the association between preoperative biopsy and surgical outcomes in clinical stage I non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with different proportions of ground-glass opacity (GGO).

METHODS

Data on patients who underwent pulmonary resection for NSCLC from 2006 to 2016 were drawn from a prospective registered database and analysed retrospectively. Patient characteristics collected included tumour size, location and staging, surgical approach, consolidation-tumour ratio, histopathology and the presence or absence of preoperative biopsy to identify the independent prognostic factors of disease-free survival (DFS) and cancer-specific survival. A 1:1 propensity score matching was conducted between the preoperative biopsy and reference groups based on their baseline characteristics measured before the decision for preoperative biopsy.

RESULTS

A total of 1427 patients were collected to achieve an overall 5-year DFS as 84.5% (median follow-up: 67.3 months), stratified to be 99.5% in the GGO-dominant group (n = 430) and 78.2% in the solid-dominant group (n = 997). Only 2 patients (0.5%) in the GGO-dominant group experienced tumour recurrence. For solid-dominant tumours matched with propensity scores (279 in preoperative biopsy vs 279 in reference group), the independent predictors of DFS included preoperative biopsy, sublobar resection, pathological staging and angiolymphatic invasion. Preoperative biopsy was a predictor of cancer-specific survival in univariable analysis but was not in multivariable analysis. Significant differences were also found between matched groups in those with late-delay surgery, but not in patients receiving preoperative biopsy with early-delay surgery (≤21 days).

CONCLUSION

Preoperative biopsy may worsen surgical outcomes in patients with clinical stage I, solid-dominant NSCLC.