Morphological evidence of neutrophil-tumor cell phagocytosis (cannibalism) in human gastric adenocarcinomas
Morphological evidence of neutrophil-tumor cell phagocytosis (cannibalism) in human gastric adenocarcinomas
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DOI：
10.1080/01913120290104593
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发表时间：
2002-09-01
影响因子：
1
通讯作者：
Inferrera, C
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Caruso, RA;Muda, AO;Inferrera, C
在各种人类癌症中，已经通过光学显微镜记录了嗜酸性肿瘤细胞的empipipolesis或吞噬作用的现象，但对所涉及的细胞病理过程和形态学变化知之甚少。为了阐明这一现象的本质，作者对胃癌中中性粒细胞与肿瘤细胞之间关系的超微结构研究进行了综述和分析。电镜下2例腺癌细胞空泡内可见凋亡的中性粒细胞。它们表现出早期凋亡形态与核周染色质聚集，但细胞质完整性或晚期凋亡形态与均匀，塌陷的细胞核和紧密堆积的细胞质颗粒。对200例切除的胃癌进行光学显微镜检查，发现22例（11%）具有嗜中性肿瘤细胞吞噬作用（同类相食）。TUNEL染色证实肿瘤细胞胞质内存在凋亡的中性粒细胞。这项研究提供了胃腺癌细胞吞噬凋亡中性粒细胞的光镜和电镜证据。嗜人肿瘤细胞吞噬作用的形态学特征提示了人胃癌中肿瘤免疫逃逸的一种特殊机制。
The phenomenon of neutrophil-tumor cell emperipolesis or phagocytosis has been documented by light microscopy in various human carcinomas, but little is known about the cellular pathological processes and the morphological changes involved. In an attempt to clarify the nature of this phenomenon, the authors' ultrastructural studies on the relationships among neutrophils and tumor cells in human gastric carcinomas are reviewed and analyzed. At the electron microscopy level, apoptotic neutrophils were found within vacuoles of adenocarcinoma cells in 2 cases. They showed either early apoptotic morphology with perinuclear chromatin aggregation but cytoplasm integrity or late apoptotic morphology with uniform, collapsed nucleus and tightly packed cytoplasmic granules. A light microscopy review of 200 cases of resected gastric carcinomas identified 22 cases (11%) that were characterized by neutrophil-tumor cell phagocytosis (cannibalism). TUNEL staining confirmed the presence of apoptotic neutrophils within the cytoplasm of the tumor cells. This study provides light and electron microscopic evidence of apoptotic neutrophils phagocytosed by gastric adenocarcinoma cells. The morphological features of neutrophil-tumor cell phagocytosis (cannibalism) would suggest a particular mechanism of tumor-immune escape in human gastric carcinoma.