Keywords: Photomedicine group Reference LPAS-ARTICLE-1998-003View record in Web of Science Record created on 2007-07-20, modified on 2016-08-08

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1751-1097.1998.tb02521.x

In Vivo Fluorescence Spectroscopy and Imaging for Oncological Applications

Cyclooxygenase-Dependent Tumor Growth through Evasion of Immunity

Fluorescence Spectroscopy of Neoplastic and Non-Neoplastic Tissues

Diagnostic techniques based on optical spectroscopy have the potential to link the biochemical and morphological properties of tissues to individual patient care. In particular, these techniques are fast, noninvasive and quantitative. Furthermore, they can be used to elucidate key tissue features, such as the cellular metabolic rate, vascularity, intravascular oxygenation and alterations in tissue morphology. These tissue features can be interpreted to shed light on a variety of clinical problems, such as precancerous and cancerous growth and atherosclerosis. The goal of this report is to review the development and application of optical spectroscopy in the ultraviolet (UV) and visible (VIS) spectral regions, as a diagnostic tool in clinical applications. A particular emphasis is placed on steady-state, UV/VIS fluorescence spectroscopy for the detection of precancers and cancers, in vivo.

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Fluorescence Spectroscopy In Vivo

The immunology of the porcine skin and its value as a model for human skin.

Detection of melanomas by digital imaging of spectrally resolved ultraviolet light-induced autofluorescence of human skin.

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is an enzyme that plays an important role in the production of prostaglandins. Numerous studies have demonstrated increased levels of COX-2 in human cancers of different types. It is thought that COX-2 may be involved in the development and progression of malignant tumours. However, data on the changes in COX-2 expression during the development and progression of human melanoma are relatively limited. Moreover, the results reported by different groups disagree to a large extent. The aim of this work was to evaluate whether COX-2 protein might be considered a potential molecular marker of melanoma progression. The expression of COX-2 was determined immunohistochemically in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens of 64 human melanocytic skin tumours (17 naevi, 36 primary cutaneous melanomas and 11 lymph node melanoma metastases, with six pairs of primary and metastatic lesions obtained from the same patients). It was found that the expression level of COX-2 was dependent on both the stage and histopathological type of the melanoma. Collectively, our data indicate that changes in the expression level of COX-2 are correlated with the development and progression of human melanoma, and imply that the COX-2 protein may be considered a potential prognostic and predictive marker in malignant melanoma.

Expression of cyclooxygenase-2 in benign naevi and during human cutaneous melanoma progression.

We have reported recently that changes in expression level of COX-2 are correlated with development and progression of human melanoma. In this study, we investigated whether the COX-2 expression level might be a useful immunohistochemical marker for distinguishing cutaneous melanomas from benign melanocytic lesions. Up to now, immunohistochemical markers have not ensured satisfactory sensitivity and specificity of differential pathologic diagnosis of melanoma. The expression of COX-2 was determined immunohistochemically in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens of 33 early Clark I/II melanomas and 58 naevi. Mean COX-2 expression in melanomas was significantly stronger than in naevi (P approximately 10(-13)). A simple diagnostic algorithm using threshold values of the COX-2 expression level allows for differentiation between early melanomas and naevi with high sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp) (for Se between 91 and 100%, Sp values change between 96.5 and 51.7%). Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves were, respectively, 0.97+/-0.02 and 0.86+/-0.04 for the COX-2 expression in central and border regions of the lesions. For all the melanomas (not only the early ones),the respective areas under the ROC curve values were 0.98+/-0.01 and 0.97+/-0.02. In conclusion, COX-2 is the first immunohistochemical marker that allows the distinguishing of early melanomas from benign melanocytic lesions with both high sensitivity and specificity.

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2): first immunohistochemical marker distinguishing early cutaneous melanomas from benign melanocytic skin tumours.

Background and Objective

The background for this work was several literature reports on applications of the fluorescence methods to detection and localization of human cancers. The objective of our study has been to investigate if such an approach could be applied for the detection of gastric cancers.



Study Design/Materials and Methods

Our study was designed in such a way that spectrally resolved images of laser-induced fluorescence of human gastric mucosa were collected and assessed from a point of view of elaborating an algorithm allowing for a differentiation between malignant and premalignant lesions and areas of normal mucosa. The method involved exciting the autofluorescence with ultraviolet light (325 nm, He-Cd laser). The images were recorded in vitro in six regions of a visible spectrum using a cooled CCD camera. The material for study was 21 resected specimens for which altogether 72 surface areas were examined.



Results

The main result is the observation that a difference of the fluorescence intensities measured at 440 nm and 395 nm, both normalized to intensity measured at 590 nm, differs significantly for the tissues of interest.



Conclusion

Using that difference as a diagnostic parameter, it was possible to classify malignant tumor tissues with a sensitivity of 96% and a predictive value of 42%, whereas the same approach applied to abnormal but not tumor stomach tissues gave values of 80% and 98%, respectively. Lasers Surg. Med. 21:149–158, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Barbara W. Chwirot

Papers

Detection of melanomas by digital imaging of spectrally resolved ultraviolet light-induced autofluorescence of human skin.

Expression of cyclooxygenase-2 in benign naevi and during human cutaneous melanoma progression.

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2): first immunohistochemical marker distinguishing early cutaneous melanomas from benign melanocytic skin tumours.

Ultraviolet laser‐induced fluorescence of human stomach tissues: Detection of cancer tissues by imaging techniques

Fluorescence in situ detection of human cutaneous melanoma: study of diagnostic parameters of the method.