PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - AOKI, MASAYA
AU  - KAMIMURA, GO
AU  - MORIZONO, SHOICHIRO
AU  - TOKUNAGA, TAKUYA
AU  - UMEHARA, TADASHI
AU  - HARADA-TAKEDA, AYA
AU  - MAEDA, KOKI
AU  - NAGATA, TOSHIYUKI
AU  - UEDA, KAZUHIRO
AU  - TABATA, KAZUHIRO
AU  - MURAKAMI, GEN
AU  - SATO, MASAMI
TI  - Clinical Significance of Nodal DCsign Expression in Non-small-cell Lung Cancer Patients
AID  - 10.21873/anticanres.16471
DP  - 2023 Jul 01
TA  - Anticancer Research
PG  - 3003--3013
VI  - 43
IP  - 7
4099  - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/43/7/3003.short
4100  - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/43/7/3003.full
SO  - Anticancer Res2023 Jul 01; 43
AB  - Background/Aim: Dendritic cells (DCs) are difficult to evaluate in lung regional lymph nodes because of region-specific structures, such as abundant trabeculae connecting the medullary and subcapsular sinuses, the latter of which contains few anthracotic macrophages. Therefore, DC-specific intercellular adhesion molecule-3-grabbing non-integrin (DCsign)-positive DCs and CD68-positive macrophages are unlikely to show a typical distribution. The present study therefore explored quantitative factors connecting the nodal DC morphology to the patient outcome. Materials and Methods: Lymph nodes from 34 non-small-cell lung cancer patients who underwent complete resection were used for immunohistochemical assessments of DCsign and CD68 and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling. Preoperative patient blood samples were used for the quantitative evaluation of monocytes. Results: The nodal DCs showed a complementary distribution with macrophages, thus few DCs were seen in clusters of macrophages. DCs often presented as a mesh-like rosette that was solitary or connected to a DC cluster. DCs disappeared, and some macrophages were apoptotic when surrounded by cancer cells that have metastasized to lymph nodes. The proportional area of a DC cluster was significantly associated with the histological differentiation of cancer (p=0.013), with a higher ratio tending to lead to a better overall survival (p=0.059), and significantly so in adenocarcinoma (p=0.007). The rosette number was significantly correlated with the smoking index and blood monocyte number (p=0.013 and p=0.005, respectively). Conclusion: The nodal DC morphology appears useful as a prognostic factor and may lead to a new phase of clinicopathological studies of solid cancers.