Abstract
Background: Cancers are heterogeneous and contain various types of irregular structures that can go undetected when examining them with standard two-dimensional microscopes. Studies of intricate networks of vasculature systems, e.g., the tumour lymphatic microvessels, benefit largely from three-dimensional imaging data analysis. Methods: The new DIPCO (Diagnosing Immunolabeled Paraffin-Embedded Cleared Organs) imaging platform uses three-dimensional light-sheet microscopy and whole-mount immunolabelling of cleared samples to study proteins and micro-anatomies deep inside of tumours. Results: Here, we uncovered the whole three-dimensional lymphatic microvasculature of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumours from a cohort of 30 patients with bladder cancer. Our results revealed more heterogeneous spatial deviations in more advanced bladder tumours. We also showed that three-dimensional imaging could determine tumour stage and identify vascular or lymphatic system invasion with higher accuracy than standard two-dimensional histological diagnostic methods. There was no association between sample storage times and outcomes, demonstrating that the DIPCO pipeline could be successfully applied on old FFPE samples. Conclusions: Studying tumour samples with three-dimensional imaging could help us understand the pathological nature of cancers and provide essential information that might improve the accuracy of cancer staging.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 995-999 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | British Journal of Cancer |
Volume | 118 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Apr 2018 |
Keywords
- Carcinoma, Transitional Cell/diagnosis
- Formaldehyde
- Humans
- Imaging, Three-Dimensional
- Lymphatic Vessels/diagnostic imaging
- Microscopy/methods
- Neoplasm Staging
- Paraffin Embedding
- Tissue Preservation/methods
- Urinary Bladder Neoplasms/diagnosis