Sequencing-based transcriptome analysis reveals diversification of immune response- and angiogenesis-related expression patterns of early-stage cervical carcinoma as compared with high-grade CIN

Background

Molecular diversity of virus-associated cervical cancer remains a relatively underexplored issue, and interrelations of immunologic and angiogenic features during the establishment of a particular landscape of the cervical cancer microenvironment are not well-characterized, especially for its earliest clinical stages, although this may provide insight into the mechanisms behind the differences in tumor aggressiveness, treatment responsiveness and prognosis. In this research, we were aimed at identifying transcriptomic landscapes of early-stage cervical carcinoma that differ substantially in their immune-related characteristics, patterns of signaling pathways and composition of the microenvironment in comparison with immediate precursor (intraepithelial) lesions.

Methods

We performed the Illumina platform-based RNA sequencing using a panel of fresh tissue samples that included human papillomavirus-positive cervical intraepithelial neoplastic lesions (CIN), invasive squamous carcinoma of the cervix of FIGO IA1-IIB stages, and morphologically normal epithelium. The derived transcriptomic profiles were bioinformatically analyzed and compared by patterns of signaling pathway activation, distribution of tumor-infiltrating cell populations, and genomic regions involved.

Result

According to hierarchical cluster analysis of the whole-transcriptome profiles, tissue samples were distributed between three groups, or gene expression patterns (the one comprising most pre-cancer cases and the other two encompassing mostly early-stage invasive cancer cases). Differentially expressed genes were retrieved in each intergroup pairwise comparison followed by Gene Ontology analysis. Gene set enrichment analysis of the two groups of tumor samples in comparison with the CIN group identified substantial differences in immunological and angiogenic properties between tumorous groups suggesting the development of different molecular phenotypes. Cell composition analysis confirmed the diverse changes in the abundancies of immune and non-immune populations and, accordingly, different impacts of the immune and stromal compartments on the tumor microenvironment in these two groups of tumors compared to CIN. Positional gene expression analysis demonstrated that the identified transcriptomic differences were linked to different chromosomal regions and co-localized with particular gene families implicated in immune regulation, inflammation, cell differentiation, and tumor invasion.

Conclusions

Overall, detection of different transcriptomic patterns of invasive cervical carcinoma at its earliest stages supports the diverse impacts of immune response- and angiogenesis-related mechanisms on the onset of tumor invasion and progression. This may provide new options for broadening the applicability and increasing the efficiency of target anti-angiogenic and immune-based therapy of virus-associated cervical carcinoma.

Immune Responses Vary in Preinvasive Colorectal Lesions by Tumor Location and Histology

Immune responses vary in colorectal cancers, which strongly influence prognosis. However, little is known about the variance in immune response within preinvasive lesions. The study aims to investigate how the immune contexture differs by clinicopathologic features (location, histology, dysplasia) associated with progression and recurrence in early carcinogenesis. We performed a cross-sectional study using preinvasive lesions from the surgical pathology laboratory at the Medical University of South Carolina. We stained the tissues with immunofluorescence antibodies, then scanned and analyzed expression using automated image analysis software. We stained CD117 as a marker of mast cells, CD4/RORC to indicate Th17 cells, MICA/B as a marker of NK-cell ligands, and also used antibodies directed against cytokines IL6, IL17A, and IFNγ. We used negative binomial regression analysis to compare analyte density counts by location, histology, degree of dysplasia adjusted for age, sex, race, and batch. All immune markers studied (except IL17a) had significantly higher density counts in the proximal colon than distal colon and rectum. Increases in villous histology were associated with significant decreases in immune responses for IL6, IL17a, NK ligand, and mast cells. No differences were observed in lesions with low- and high-grade dysplasia, except in mast cells. The lesions of the proximal colon were rich in immune infiltrate, paralleling the responses observed in normal mucosa and invasive disease. The diminishing immune response with increasing villous histology suggests an immunologically suppressive tumor environment. Our findings highlight the heterogeneity of the immune responses in preinvasive lesions, which may have implications for prevention strategies. PREVENTION RELEVANCE: Our study is focused on immune infiltrate expression in preinvasive colorectal lesions; our results suggest important differences by clinicopathologic features that have implications for immune prevention research.

Radiomic analysis of pulmonary ground-glass opacity nodules for distinction of preinvasive lesions, invasive pulmonary adenocarcinoma and minimally invasive adenocarcinoma based on quantitative texture analysis of CT

Objective

To identify the differences among preinvasive lesions, minimally invasive adenocarcinomas (MIAs) and invasive pulmonary adenocarcinomas (IPAs) based on radiomic feature analysis with computed tomography (CT).

Methods

A total of 109 patients with ground-glass opacity lesions (GGOs) in the lungs determined by CT examinations were enrolled, all of whom had received a pathologic diagnosis. After the manual delineation and segmentation of the GGOs as regions of interest (ROIs), the patients were subdivided into three groups based on pathologic analyses: the preinvasive lesions (including atypical adenomatous hyperplasia and adenocarcinoma in situ) subgroup, the MIA subgroup and the IPA subgroup. Next, we obtained the texture features of the GGOs. The data analysis was aimed at finding both the differences between each pair of the groups and predictors to distinguish any two pathologic subtypes using logistic regression. Finally, a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied to accurately evaluate the performances of the regression models.

Results

We found that the voxel count feature (P<0.001) could be used as a predictor for distinguishing IPAs from preinvasive lesions. However, the surface area feature (P=0.040) and the extruded surface area feature (P=0.013) could be predictors of IPAs compared with MIAs. In addition, the correlation feature (P=0.046) could distinguish preinvasive lesions from MIAs better.

Conclusions

Preinvasive lesions, MIAs and IPAs can be discriminated based on texture features within CT images, although the three diseases could all appear as GGOs on CT images. The diagnoses of these three diseases are very important for clinical surgery.

Cervical premalignant lesions and their management

Cervical cancer is the tenth most common cancer in women in developed countries that have national screening programs, while it is in the second line in underdeveloped countries. According to Ministry of Health registry data, cervical cancer is the eighth most common cancer among female cancers in Turkey. Today, the most effective screening for cervical cancer is to obtain smears from the cervix. Therefore, periodic screening programs are of great importance in identifying preinvasive lesions to prevent their progression to invasive cancer. Today, with the use of human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, screening programs have brought new insights into the prevention of cervical cancer. Management of preinvasive lesions has to be known by each obstetrics and gynecology specialist. Redundant procedures and treatments can be avoided by directing patients correctly at this step. Cancer phobia should not be created. Ablative or destructive treatments should not be done without histological diagnosis; hysterectomy, which has an equal risk of recurrence, should not be recommended.