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Shoichiro Yamada, MD; Shuji Toda, MD; Takemoto Shin, MD; Hajime Sugihara, MD

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1999;125:424-431.

Objective  To clarify the invasion mechanism of laryngeal carcinoma (HEp-2) cells.

Design  Human HEp-2 cells were cultured on a collagen gel containing fibroblasts and/or fat cells. The HEp-2 cells were also treated with air exposure as the local environment of the laryngeal epithelial mucosa. A collagen gel invasion assay was conducted under these culture conditions.

Results  No invasion of HEp-2 cells was found in the stromal cell–free collagen gel, but a slight invasion was observed in the fibroblast-embedded gel. A deeper invasion of HEp-2 cells occurred in the fibroblast- and fat cell–coembedded gel and in the fibroblast-embedded gel with air exposure. The most extensive invasion of HEp-2 cells was observed under the fibroblast- and fat cell–coembedded gel in combination with air exposure.

Conclusions  Fat cells and air exposure clearly increase the invasive effect of fibroblasts in squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx. The combined effect of these 3 factors (ie, fat cells, fibroblasts, and air exposure) plays a very important role in the invasive growth of the carcinoma cells. This observation suggests that both tumor cell–stromal cell interaction and tumor cell–local environmental factor interaction should be taken into account in an investigation of the invasive and proliferative mechanisms of laryngeal carcinoma.

From the Departments of Pathology (Drs Yamada, Toda, and Sugihara) and Otolaryngology (Drs Yamada and Shin), Saga Medical School, Saga, Japan.

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