Abstract
The extracellular matrix plays an important role in cellular balance, and collagen fibers are its most important component. Over the last few years, second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy has been used for the analysis of collagen fibers in several types of gynaecological cancers, such as breast and ovarian cancer. The value of collagen parameters obtained with this technique to gain insights on the physiopathology and on the prognostic evaluation of cancer has been advocated. Herein, we have characterized the collagen fibers in squamous cell carcinoma (VSCC) and preneoplastic lesions using the SHG microscopy. Collagen parameters, quantity, organization, and uniformity, of VSCC, adjacent skin of VSCC or preneoplastic lesions were compared with values obtained in normal tissue of healthy control. There was an evident decrease in the values of collagen fiber parameters in the VSCC. Increased quantity and uniformity of tumor associated collagen fibers were associated with the presence of lymph node metastases, which suggest a prognostic value of such parameters in the evaluation of vulvar cancer.
Highlights
The extracellular matrix plays an important role in cellular balance, and collagen fibers are its most important component
VSCC has two mechanisms of development, which arise via preneoplastic lesions called vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia (VIN): (1) infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV), which affects younger women (
In the analysis of VIN 3 and adjacent skin of VSCC, we observed the highest amount of collagen fibers compared to VSCC (Figures 2 and 3, respectively)
Summary
The extracellular matrix plays an important role in cellular balance, and collagen fibers are its most important component. Increased quantity and uniformity of tumor associated collagen fibers were associated with the presence of lymph node metastases, which suggest a prognostic value of such parameters in the evaluation of vulvar cancer. Vulvar cancer is the fourth leading gynaecological cancer worldwide[1], following uterine corpus, ovarian, and cervical cancer It represents only about 5% of all tumors of the lower genital tract[1,2] and is considered a rare cancer. Over the last few years, studies on cancer development have focused on the role of remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM), on collagen fibers (COL), to tumor progression. The SHG has been increasingly being used to study COL, due to its high sensitivity and specificity It is a quantitative nonlinear optical microscopy technique that captures images from biological tissues having polarized anisotropic structures, such as COL11,12
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
