A new vision of tubular and tubulo-lobular carcinomas of the breast, as revealed by 3-D modelling.
OBJECTIVE
To reveal architectural structure and growth patterns of tubular carcinomas (TC) and tubulo-lobular carcinomas (TLC) of the breast.


RESULTS
We studied a series of 20 pure TC and 22 TLC, evaluating the architectural features of the two entities by bi-dimensional microscopy and by 3-D modelling. We traced the spatial organization of three TCs and three TLCs on serial sections using AE1/AE3 cytokeratin as a marker of the epithelial structures and reconstructed 3-D models of each histological type. The analysis of TC on serial cytokeratin-stained sections showed that the form of the 'tubules' was related to the plane of sectioning and that often they were tear-drop shaped, with a final tail of single cells connecting them together. 3-D models corresponded to a necklace appearance and the tubules of TC appeared as blebs bridging through solid cords to other blebs. In TLC the structure was similar, but the connecting single-cell files were usually longer. Both TC and TLC showed similar E-cadherin positivity and an indolent clinical behaviour.


CONCLUSIONS
TC and TLC share the same architectural and growth patterns and ultimately seem to represent variants of the same tumour type.
Marchiò
C
C
Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Turin, Torino, Italy.
Sapino
A
A
Arisio
R
R
Bussolati
G
G
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D018275:Carcinoma, Lobular / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007633:Keratins / Q000032:analysis; D008867:Microtomy; D008954:Models, Biological
D007633:Keratins