Experimental study of the corneal carcinoma in situ derived from corneal epithelial stem cells

Objective To investigate the histopathological features of corneal carcinoma in situ and significance of corneal epithelial stem cells in corneal carcinoma in situ.MethodsA total of 8 cases with corneal carcinoma in situ were collected,and these specimens were studied with normal paraffin section,HE staining and morphological examination.Immunohistochemical studies of P63 and AE5 were taken.ResultsThe normal pathologic examination had found that the tumor cells were with high proliferation in the epithelium and with obvious heterology;The proliferative cells were mainly corneal basal cells,and subepithelial basement membranes were complete.With immunohistochemical staining of P63,the specific marker in corneal epithelial stem cells,malignant cells were found in tumor area,the nucleus were stained with brown,and no expression was found in differentiated fusiform cells at surrounding or surface layer,and negative expression was found in neighbouring normal corneal epithelial cells.ConclusionsCorneal carcinoma in situ cells mainly include tumor stem cells with positive expression of P63 and differentiated cells with expression of keratoprotein,but with little expression of P63.Corneal carcinoma in situ is derived from corneal epithelial stem cells.