[Basement membrane in squamous cell carcinomas of the larynx: an immunohistochemical study]

The study was to assess the distribution of basement membrane(BM) in laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas(LSCC). Correlation of BM and clinical parameters (TNM stage, histological grading, invasion mode, lymph node metastasis) was also examined.

The expression of BM around tumor cell was determined in 40 cases of LSCC by using monoclonal antibody against human type IV collagen. An intact continuous BM was found in 17 cases (42.5%), while partial or widespread loss of the BM was detected in the other 23 cases (57.5%).

In cases with poor histological differentiation, the defect of BM was more severe than that in cases with high or middle histological differentiation (P < 0.05). Moreover, diffuse invasion carcinomas revealed lower type IV collagen expression comparing with cases with better tumor-host border (P < 0.05). There was a higher risk of regional lymph node metastasis among cases with poor BM expression (P < 0.01), but there was no association of clinical stage with BM defect (P > 0.05).

These observations indicated that testing the distribution of BM seems to be useful to evaluate the histological grading of malignancy of laryngeal carcinoma and be helpful to prognosticate the frequency of regional lymph node metastasis.