Nucleolin and nucleophosmin expression patterns in pulmonary adenocarcinoma invading the pleura and in pleural malignant mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of Nucleolin and nucleophosmin expression patterns in pulmonary adenocarcinoma invading the pleura and in pleural malignant mesothelioma, by M. Masiuk, P. Waloszczyk, M. Lewandowska, et al (Thoracic Cancer, 2020).

The study

• Authors: M. Masiuk, P. Waloszczyk, M. Lewandowska, E. Dobak, E. Urasinska
• Journal: Thoracic Cancer
• Published: 2020;11(9):2529-2535
• Cited by: 3 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Background: Visceral pleural invasion (VPI) in adenocarcinoma of the lung is considered a poor prognostic factor. The purpose of this study was to analyze nucleolin and nucleophosmin expression in pulmonary adenocarcinoma (PA) with VPI and in pleural malignant mesothelioma.

Methods: The study was conducted on the basis of 19 pathologically-confirmed cases of adenocarcinoma of the lung and 29 cases of epithelioid malignant mesothelioma. The nucleolin and nucleophosmin expression was assessed immunohistochemically and analyzed with image analysis software.

Results: Nucleolin expression was lower while nucleophosmin was higher in pleural invasion of pulmonary adenocarcinoma than in the central part of the tumor. Differences in subpopulations of cells with different expression of proteins studied were also found. Malignant mesothelioma showed lower nucleolin expression than adenocarcinoma of the lung but no differences in nucleophosmin expression were found.

Conclusions: The results of our study suggested that lower nucleolin and higher nucleophosmin expression may be related to higher invasiveness of adenocarcinoma of the lung. Differences in nucleolin expression between pulmonary adenocarcinoma and malignant mesothelioma indicate another aspect of biology of these pleura-invading cancers that requires further study.

Key Points: SIGNIFICANT FINDINGS OF THE STUDY: Differences in nucleolin and nucleophosmin expression in pleura invading pulmonary adenocarcinoma indicate the involvement of these proteins in its locoregional spread while differences in nucleolin expression between pulmonary adenocarcinoma and malignant mesothelioma suggest another aspect of biology of these cancers.

What This Study Adds: This is the first study on nucleolin and nucleophosmin expression in pleural malignant mesothelioma and pleura-invading pulmonary adenocarcinoma. Our findings may assist in understanding the mechanisms of locoregional spread of adenocarcinoma and differences between these two pleura-invading cancers.

© 2020 The Authors. Thoracic Cancer published by China Lung Oncology Group and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

In plain English

Researchers in Szczecin, Poland, measured two proteins found in the cell nucleus, nucleolin and nucleophosmin, in tumor tissue. They studied samples from 19 patients with lung adenocarcinoma that had invaded the pleura. They also studied 29 cases of epithelial-subtype pleural malignant mesothelioma, chosen from 37 mesothelioma cases. All samples were examined at a pathology laboratory between 2009 and 2017. Using staining and image-analysis software, the researchers compared the center of each lung tumor with the part invading the pleura. They also compared the pleura-invading lung cancer cells with mesothelioma cells. In the lung cancers, the pleura-invading cells showed lower nucleolin and higher nucleophosmin than the tumor centers. The average nucleolin score was 238.69 in the centers and 209.57 in the pleura-invading cells. Mesothelioma cells showed lower nucleolin than the pleura-invading lung cancer cells, with no significant difference in nucleophosmin. The authors concluded that lower nucleolin and higher nucleophosmin may be related to greater invasiveness of lung adenocarcinoma. They said the mesothelioma results should be treated with caution and need further study. The article does not discuss asbestos exposure.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Laboratory study of archived tumor tissue: immunohistochemical staining for nucleolin and nucleophosmin, measured with image-analysis software, comparing regions within lung tumors and comparing lung adenocarcinoma with mesothelioma
• Who was studied: Tissue samples from 19 patients with primary pulmonary adenocarcinoma that had invaded the pleura, and 29 cases of epithelial-subtype pleural malignant mesothelioma selected from 37 mesothelioma samples. The other 8 cases (biphasic, desmoplastic and sarcomatoid) were excluded. All were examined at the Independent Laboratory of Pathology "Zdunomed" LLC, Szczecin, Poland, between 1 January 2009 and 7 July 2017.
• Exposure: The article does not report asbestos or any other exposure. The study measured the levels of two nuclear proteins (nucleolin and nucleophosmin) in tumor cells.
• Main results:
  • In lung adenocarcinoma, cancer cells invading the pleura showed lower nucleolin expression than cells in the central part of the tumor. This was seen in the H-score, in the percentage of all nucleolin-positive cells and in the percentage of highly (+3) positive cells.
  • In lung adenocarcinoma, the mean nucleolin H-score was 238.69 in the central part of tumors and 209.57 in pleural infiltration (P = 0.02).
  • In lung adenocarcinoma, nucleophosmin expression (H-score) was higher in cancer cells invading the pleura than in the central parts of tumors.
  • In lung adenocarcinoma, the mean nucleophosmin H-score was 237.25 in the central part of tumors and 257.61 in pleural infiltration (P = 0.01).
  • Malignant mesothelioma cells showed lower nucleolin expression than lung adenocarcinoma cells invading the pleura.
  • The mean nucleolin H-score was 209.57 in pleura-infiltrating lung adenocarcinoma and 171.84 in malignant mesothelioma (P = 0.01).
  • Nucleophosmin expression did not differ significantly between pleura-invading lung adenocarcinoma and malignant mesothelioma. The data for this comparison were not shown.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that lower nucleolin and higher nucleophosmin expression may be related to higher invasiveness of lung adenocarcinoma. They said the nucleolin difference between lung adenocarcinoma and mesothelioma points to another aspect of these cancers' biology that requires further study.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors said their findings linking lower nucleolin to the aggressiveness of mesothelioma should be considered with caution, and that further studies are needed.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Lung cancer, Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Adenocarcinoma, Pleura, Malignant Mesothelioma, Epithelioid.

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