Morphology of Tissue Disruption at Sites of High-Grade Tumors.

backgroundInvasive solid cancers originating from diverse organs like breast, ovary and lung metastasize to distant sites. The structural changes at the primary sites of these high-grade tumors have not been well characterized. The main aim of the current study was to examine if there is any morphological overlap of metastasizing tissues of different invasive tumors.

methodsWhole slide hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained images from web repository of multiple tumor specimens were used for this study. ImageJ was used for image processing and analysis.

resultsThe metastatic tissue(s) at the primary sites of different examined high-grade tumors appeared similar, irrespective of the organ of origin of the primary tumor. Numerous cellular excrescences with the repetitive appearance of a bulb-like projection with a narrowed-off trailing end were seen emanating from the tumor cell membrane. Many of them contained nuclei, while others were empty vesicles. Although these structures were not exactly equal in their dimensions, the rubrics of architectural distortion in different high-grade tumors were conserved.

conclusionsThe preliminary observations suggest for the first time that there is structural similarity of the epithelial dysmorphia in many high-grade invasive tumors irrespective of their parental tissue of origin. This commonality of morphological prints of metastases suggests that common pathways of cytosolic force generation are activated during temporal progression of cancer, resulting in the conserved mushroom-shaped appearance of the dismantling individual cell or cell clusters from the parental epithelium. The conserved genomic mechanisms underlying these fascinating observations merit testing and validation in future studies.