DNA STEMLINE HETEROGENEITY OF NONSMALL CELL LUNG CARCINOMAS AND DIFFERENCES IN DNA-PLOIDY BETWEEN CARCINOMAS AND METASTATIC NODES

Nuclear DNA contents were measured using a flow cytometry technique in non-small cell lung carcinomas and differences in ploidy patterns were compared between primary lung carcinomas and metastatic lymph nodes. Negative node lung cancer revealed diploidy in 82.6% of the 224 non-small cell lung cancers, in contrast with 19.5% in positive node lung cancer. In multi-stemline cells, a high incidence of nodal involvement was seen when compared with single stemline cells. The more the DNA indices increased, the more the lymph nodes were seen to be extensively involved. Furthermore, intratumoral heterogeneity was evaluated in terms of n-categories. In conclusion, it is suggested that nodal metastasis may be caused by tumor cells with high DNA indices in lung carcinomas, in particular for multi-stemline cells.