Journal: Cancer Communications
Article Title: Ectopic CD11c Drives SMAD3-Mediated Aberrant Antigen Presentation and Epithelial–Mesenchymal Transition in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma
doi: 10.34133/cancomm.0014
Figure Lengend Snippet: Revealing CD11c-positive epithelial cell subtype in ESCC development. (A) Overall workflow of mIF detection of multistage esophageal precancerous and cancerous lesion samples from 4-NQO-treated mice. Panels show multistage sample collection, immunofluorescence staining, cell identification, and functional examination. (B) Representative mIF images of tissue sections with identified cell phenotypes. Panels from top to bottom are H&E images inferred by inForm software, mIF staining images at the same location, cells annotated with different subtypes based on fluorescence intensity thresholds determined by Otsu’s method, and magnified images of CD11c and panCK immunofluorescence images in the ROIs in multistage tissues. mIF staining markers are shown on the left side of panels, panCK (gold), CD11c (red), CD68 (cyan), CD206 (magenta), and DAPI (blue, for cell nuclei). In the third row of the panel, dots in different colors represent cell types, and the colors are denoted above the panel. (C) Fraction of CD11c + epithelial cells in different histopathological stages of esophageal carcinogenesis in 4-NQO-treated mice. Sample size at each stage: NOR, 30; INF, 37; LGIN, 20; HGIN, 14; ESCC, 12. (D) Representative CD11c mIF images of human esophageal tissues at different pathological stages. Panels from top to bottom are H&E staining, mIF staining of relative serial sections, and magnified images of CD11c, CD68, and panCK in the ROIs in multistage tissues. CD11c (red), CD68 (cyan), panCK (gold), and DAPI (blue, for cell nuclei). (E) Fraction of CD11c + esophageal epithelium in different histopathological stages of human ESCC development (NOR, n = 12; LGIN, n = 3; HGIN, n = 4; ESCC, n = 11). P values were calculated from the Wilcoxon rank-sum test (C and E). ns, not significant. Abbreviations: 4-NQO, 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide; NOR, normal epithelial tissue; INF, inflammatory tissue; LGIN, low-grade intraepithelial neoplasia tissue; HGIN, high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia tissue; ESCC, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; H&E, hematoxylin and eosin; mIF, multiplex immunofluorescence; DC, dendritic cell; ROI, regions of interest.
Article Snippet: Multispectral images were scanned using the Vectra Polaris Automated Quantitative Pathology Imaging System and then unmixed to remove autofluorescence by inForm software (AKOYA, version 2.6, RRID: SCR_019155; https://www.akoyabio.com/phenoimager/inform-tissue-finder/ ) as described.
Techniques: Immunofluorescence, Staining, Functional Assay, Software, Fluorescence, Multiplex Assay