Quantitative study of breast cancer progression: different pathways for various in situ cancers.

The chromatin pattern in nuclei from breast ductal proliferative lesions was quantitatively evaluated with the objective of deriving measures of tumor progression. A total of 110 cases were analyzed. There were 38 cases of normal tissue or benign proliferative lesions, 41 cases of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), and 31 cases of microinfiltrating DCIS and of infiltrating cancer. A total of 9424 nuclei were analyzed. High-resolution images were digitally recorded. For each nucleus, 93 karyometric features descriptive of the spatial and statistical distribution of the nuclear chromatin were computed. Data analysis included establishing a profile of relative deviations of each feature from "normal," called the nuclear signature, and of lesion signatures as well as of trends of lesion progression. Two trends of evolution could be discerned: one from normal to hyperplasia, atypical hyperplasia, and comedo DCIS as representative of high-grade lesions; and the other from normal to hyperplasia to cribriform DCIS, solid DCIS, and infiltrating cancer, representing lower grade lesions. The nuclei in microinfiltrating foci are distinctly different from nuclei in high-grade comedo DCIS. The nuclei in microinfiltrating foci have a statistically significantly lower nuclear abnormality. They may represent outgrowing clones.

Quantitative study of ductal breast cancer progression: nuclear signatures for evaluation of progression grade.

The evaluation of progressive morphological changes, with 93 morphometric parameters in tissue lesions representative of ductal breast cancer progression, has been performed in order to define in great detail the profile of chromatin texture (nuclear signature) changes. A gradual, distinctive increase in nuclear signature alterations from hyperplasia to infiltrating carcinoma has been found. The nuclear signatures' analysis of microinfiltrating foci in comedo DCIS showed sharp differences compared with those of comedo DCIS they derived from: these foci consist of cells with smaller and also more homogeneous nuclei. Opposite to the prominent heterogeneity of those of comedo DCIS: they appear to express a reduced clonality in the new, more progressed, cell population. Digital analysis of chromatin patterns seems to be useful, beyond mere extraction of individual features of value, in getting objective data for individual grading and prognosis of breast cancer.

Early stromal invasion in cervical cancer: immunocytochemical changes occurring in infiltrating neoplastic cells.

Early Stromal Invasion (ESI) in cervical cancer progression should be considered as a separate histological diagnostic category for its morphological characters very different from those of both carcinoma in situ (CIS) and microcarcinoma (MIC). To have some more microscopical details on these differences we performed immunocytochemical investigation addressed to evaluate, in cervical cancer malignancy progression, the evolutionary changes in the expression of some proteins involved in cell differentiation and cell cycle regulation. The results provide data improving the knowledge about ESI and supporting, with objective proofs, the nosological autonomy of ESI, with respect to CIS and MIC.