Laryngeal carcinoma experimental model suggests the possibility of tumor seeding to gastrostomy site

• Published in: Medical hypotheses Vol. 150; p. 110573
• Main Authors: Uloza, Virgilijus, Kuzminienė, Alina, Palubinskienė, Jolita, Balnytė, Ingrida, Ulozienė, Ingrida, Valančiūtė, Angelija
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Ltd 01-05-2021
• Subjects: Animals; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell; Chick Embryo; Chicken embryo CAM; Chorioallantoic membrane; Experimental models; Gastrostomy; Laryngeal carcinoma; Laryngeal Neoplasms; Models, Theoretical; Neovascularization, Pathologic; PEG; Laryngeal carcinoma; Chicken embryo CAM; PEG; Chorioallantoic membrane; Experimental models
• ISSN: 0306-9877; 1532-2777
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2021.110573

Some studies state that laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is associated with possible direct tumor cell seeding to percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) site. However, there is a lack of experimental proof that LSCC tumor tissue can adhere and grow in distant sites. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the growth pattern of LSCC implants on chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) and evaluate possible associations between clinical course of the disease and behavior of experimentally implanted LSCC tumors. Our results show that implanted LSCC tissue survives on CAMs in 95% of cases while retaining essential morphologic characteristics and proliferative capacity of the original tumor. We identified the increased CAM vascularization, an infiltrative growth pattern of the implant and formation of distant isolated metastatic nodes on the CAMs. LSCC tumors with worse differentiation degree (G2 or G3) adhered to the experimental CAMs significantly better than G1. These results facilitate the understanding of tumor biology and allow hypothetisezing that dissemination and direct implantation of LSCC cells into the stomal wall during the pull PEG procedure might be possible.