Specific changes of chromatin structure in nuclei of normal epithelium adjacent to laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma - A preliminary study of 82 cases

The aim of this study was to confirm the existence of specific nuclear text ure feature alterations of histologically normal epithelial borders nearby invasive laryngeal cancer (NC). Paraffin sections of NC and of chronic inflammations unrelated to cancer (C I) were analysed for nuclear texture and for integrated optical density (IO D-index) and were compared to normal epithelium of patients without evidenc e of cancer (NE). Several discriminant functions based on nuclear texture f eatures were trained to separate different subgroups.As the most important result, specific nuclear texture feature shifts were only found in NC with high-density lymphocytic stroma infiltrate (NC+). Classification of nuclei of NE versus NC+ was correct in 70%. The same classifier was correct in onl y 58% when nuclei of NE were classified versus CI. We also found lower valu es of IOD-Index within the NC+ group when compared to NE (p <0.001).