PMC6092312_01
Histological findings of the autopsy. Pleomorphic tumor cells had non-cohesive growth with mesenchymal properties in viable areas of the lung tumor (A) and in metastatic foci of the pharynx (B) and small intestine (C) by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining. These tumor cells strongly expressed vimentin (E-G) but not pan-cytokeratin (I-K). On the other hand, the tumor cells in the brain metastasis had cohesive proliferation with epithelial properties (D), and partially expressed vimentin (H) and pan-cytokeratin (L). Histological sections are shown at 200 x magnification.
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Viable cells has non-cohesive growth with mesenchymal properties (Fig. 1A). Tumor cells in the pharynx and small intestine had viable cells similar to the lung tumor (Fig. 1B and C) and strongly expressed vimentin (Fig. 1E-G) but not cytokeratin (Fig. 1I-K). On the other hand, tumor cells in the brain had cohesive proliferation and epithelial properties (Fig. 1D). Tumor cells in the necrotic area of the lung tumor and in the brain partially expressed vimentin (Fig. 1H) and cytokeratin (Fig. 1L).
The expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers in the tumor cells of the pharynx metastasis. Immunohistochemistry showed that ZEB1, which is a representative EMT marker, was strongly positive (A), but SNAI1 (B) and E-cadherin (C) were negative in the mesenchymal tumor cells. Histological sections are shown at 200 x magnification.
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IHC showed that ZEB1, which is a representative EMT marker, was strongly positive (Fig. 2A), but SNAI1 and E-cadherin were negative (Fig. 2B and C), which suggests that EMT associated with ZEB1 contributes to malignant phenotypes of pleomorphic carcinoma.