Quantitative studies of hemidesmosomes during progressive DMBA carcinogenesis in hamster cheek-pouch mucosa

The present study was designed to establish whether there are changes in hemidesmosomal distribution during defined stages of chemical carcinogenesis in hamster cheek-pouch epithelium. 0.5% DMBA in liquid paraffin was applied thrice weekly to hamster pouches and tissue samples were obtained at regular intervals and assigned to hyperplastic, dysplastic and carcinomatous groups on the basis of histological criteria. Untreated pouches served as controls. Following a strict sampling regime, electron micrographs were obtained from the epithelial-connective tissue junction and, using stereological intersection counting, the relative surface area of basal plasma membrane (BPM) occupied by hemidesmosomes was estimated. In normal epithelium 40% of the BPM is occupied by hemidesmosomes. During carcinogenesis, values decrease progressively and significantly to 35% in hyperplasia, 28% in dysplasia and 13% in carcinoma. A decrease in the relative area of hemidesmosomes would therefore appear to contribute to the increased motility of epithelial cells during a connective-tissue invasion and cellular metastasis.