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Kidney Transplant Modifies the Architecture and Microenvironment of Basal Cell Carcinomas
- Source :
- Kidney & Blood Pressure Research, Vol 45, Iss 3, Pp 368-377 (2020)
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- S. Karger AG, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Background/Aims: Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is a frequent type of nonmelanoma skin cancer, which shows a greater prevalence in kidney-transplanted (KT) patients than in the general population. The study of this tumor in KT patients may allow us to understand the influence of the tumor inflammatory microenvironment on cancer behavior, and to design new image analysis methods to determine prognosis and apply personalized medicine. The major hypothesis of the present work is that antirejection drugs, by modifying the B-cell/T-cell balance, induce measurable differences in tumoral cell microarchitecture and in the inflammatory microenvironment in KT patients compared to nontransplanted controls. Methods: In this retrospective study in an Italian cohort including 15 KT patients and 15 control subjects from the general population who developed BCC, we analyzed tissue microarchitecture and inflammatory infiltrates of BCC using state-of-the-art nonlinear image analysis techniques such as fractal dimension and sample entropy of internuclear distances. Results: KT patients showed a nonsignificant trend to a greater number of nuclei in the basal cell layer compared to non-KT controls and subtle changes in the intact skin compared to controls. Similarly, the number of mitoses per unit length was almost doubled in the patients with KT compared to controls. However, when the number of mitotic cells was normalized by the total number of cells in the basal layer (mitotic index), these differences were not significant, although a clear trend was still present. Finally, KT patients showed a nonsignificant trend to an increased ­density of inflammatory cells close to the tumoral cell layer. When considering the intact skin, this difference was significant, with a 70% increase in the density of inflammatory cells. Conclusion: Data comparing the microarchitecture of BCC in normal subjects and KT patients are scanty, and the present study is the first to use nonlinear image analysis techniques to this aim. The observed differences underscore the relevance of T-cell suppression in cancer behavior. These data suggest that BCC develops in treated patients with specific biological characteristics which should be further analyzed in terms of therapeutic response.
- Subjects :
- Male
lcsh:Diseases of the circulatory (Cardiovascular) system
Pathology
medicine.medical_specialty
Mitotic index
medicine.medical_treatment
Cell
Population
Basal cells
Onconephrology
lcsh:RC870-923
Kidney transplantation
Basal (phylogenetics)
lcsh:Dermatology
medicine
Humans
Basal cell carcinoma
education
Retrospective Studies
education.field_of_study
business.industry
Cancer
Immunosuppression
General Medicine
lcsh:RL1-803
Middle Aged
lcsh:Diseases of the genitourinary system. Urology
medicine.disease
medicine.anatomical_structure
lcsh:RC666-701
Carcinoma, Basal Cell
Nephrology
Basal cell
Female
Skin cancer
Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
business
Human
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14230143 and 14204096
- Volume :
- 45
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Kidney and Blood Pressure Research
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....2b5bf1f3f4b925f9cbed658e9e377dea