A Spectrophotometric Study of DNA Ploidy Patterns of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

DNA ploidy was determined by spectrophotometric analysis of paraffin embedded malignant tissue from 57 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of esophagus. DNA distribution pattern was classified as diploid, low grade aneuploid(LGA) and high grade aneuploid(HGA), according to the location of the peak and degree of dispersion on the DNA histogram. The relationships among DNA distribution patterns, pathologic features, clinical findings and prognosis were investigated. The advanced carcinoma had the higher distribution of HGA pattern(55%). The distributions of diploid pattern were more frequent in early(70%) or superficial(61.5%) esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in comparison with LGA or HGA. In patients with HGA pattern, there was significantly higher frequency of lymph node metastasis(74%), lymphatic and venous invasion as compared with those exhibiting the LGA or diploid pattern. Prognosis in patients with diploidy carcinoma were significantly better than those had HGA pattern (P<0.005). Thus the DNA HGA pattern based on spectrophotometry closely correlates with the factors generally indicative of the aggressive behavior of the malignant tumors. Furthermore the role of the DNA ploidy pattern as a prognostic factor is emphasized.