Renal clear-cell carcinoma: an ultrastructural study on the junctional complexes.
Histol Histopathol
; 20(1): 35-44, 2005 01.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-15578420
ABSTRACT
Junctional complexes such as tight junctions, adherens junctions, and desmosomes play crucial roles in the structure and function of epithelial cells. These junctions are involved in increasing cell-cell contact and as well serve as signaling centers regulating multiple functions in epithelial cells. Carcinoma cell lines cultured in the laboratory generally lack junctional complexes. However, studies directed towards understanding the distribution of junctional complexes in human cancer tissues are lacking. In this study, we analyzed by electron microscopy the distribution of junctional complexes in patients diagnosed with renal clear-cell carcinoma. We found that both tight junctions and adherens junctions were drastically reduced in patients with cancer compared to normal tissues. Desmosomes were not detected in normal proximal tubules while distinctly present in cancer tissues. These results suggest that analysis of junctional complexes in human tumors should provide valuable information that might have prognostic and diagnostic value.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Asunto principal:
Carcinoma de Células Renales
/
Uniones Intercelulares
Límite:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Histol Histopathol
Asunto de la revista:
HISTOLOGIA
/
PATOLOGIA
Año:
2005
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos