Immunofluorescence Study of the Antigens of the Basement Membrane and the Peritumoral Stroma in Human Colonic Adenocarcinomas

Abstract

Twenty-three colonic adenocarcinomas were studied by immunofluorescence with antisera against components of the basement membrane (type IV collagen, laminin, and heparan sulfate-rich proteoglycan) as well as antisera against antigens of the connective tissue (type III collagen, fibronectin, and hyaluronectin). Marked alterations of the basement membranes were consistently observed on staining with each one of the first three antisera. In contrast, staining of the normal components of connective tissue was in most cases as intense in tumors as in normal colonic mucosa. Hyaluronectin, a marker of peritumoral stroma, was found to be present in 13 out of 16 tumors studied. In six metastatic lymph nodes, tumor foci were sometimes surrounded by antigens of the basement membrane. But these antigens were never found in the cytoplasm of cancer cells.

Immunohistological study to determine the presence of pericryptal myofibroblasts and basement membrane in colorectal epithelial tumors

“…Loss of the BM has been reported in these types of cancer. [20][21][22][23][24] PMFs are thought to be involved in the production of the BM, 4-6 and our results suggest that the loss of the BM seen in colorectal epithelial tumors is caused by the disappearance of PMFs surrounding the glandular crypts of the tumor.…”

“…20 There is a higher potentiality for invasion and metastasis in colorectal cancers associated with alterations or loss of the BM than in cancers associated with retention of the normal BM. [21][22][23][24] The alterations and disappearance of the BM in colon cancers have been linked with the action of an enzyme which degrades the BM. [25][26][27][28] We found that in adenomas with low-grade dysplasia, the distribution of PMFs around the tumor was similar to the distribution of PMFs around glandular crypts in the epithelium of the normal colon.…”

Extracellular matrix components produced by SV40-transformed human epidermal keratinocytes

“…It is therefore likely that the alterations in the extracellular matrix which we have described for SV6-1 B a d HFK at high passage may be an important feature of transformed keratinocytes which have a malignant phenotype. In addition, several reports have shown that disorganized basement membranes are commonly found in carcinomas (De Moragas et al, 1970;Albrechten et al, 1981;Burtin et al, 1982;Weber et al, 1982) suggesting that altered expression of extracellular matrix components may occur in vivo. It is therefore important to establish whether the alterations which we have described occur in other malignantly transformed keratinocytes, and so we are now extending our investigations to keratinocytes cultured from human squamous-cell carcinomas.…”

Glycosidases in cancer and invasion

“…This is in marked contrast to the majority of invasive tumors which demonstrate a fragmentation and/or complete loss of basement membrane components in areas adjacent to tumor cells. Light microscopy (123,124), electron microscopy (125,126) and immunohistochemical staining with antibodies specific for basement membrane components (127,128,129) have been utilized to demonstrate these observations. These studies clearly show that loss of basement membrane components is associated with the invasiveness of malignant human tumors, thus lending support for the hypothesis that invading tumor cells elaborate degradative enzymes which act on basement membranes.…”