title: The Trojan Horse Tale Revisited: An Eye on Metastatic Spread of Carcinoma Cells.
abstract: The metastatic spread of carcinoma cells is not fully understood. Here, we compare the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and intraocular metastatic cells in parotid gland carcinoma with the PBMCs of healthy donors by immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. We found Ber-EP4 tumor marker-positive carcinoma cells in the aqueous humor of the patient's right eye and a CD45 and Ber-EP4-expressing PBMC population in his blood. These Ber-EP4-expressing cells exhibited a monocytic-myeloid phenotype with coexpression of CD11b, CD115, and the macrophage marker CD172a (SIRP-α). Uptake of pHrodogreen revealed their phagocytic activity. Our findings suggest that the tumor cells in the anterior chamber originally derived from cell fusions between tumor cells and myeloid cells in the peripheral blood. Thus, metastases of a solid malignancy could use monocytes-macrophages as the Trojan horse to enter the eye.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. rafael.grajewski@uk-koeln.de.
authors.forename: Rafael S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Grajewski
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine 5, Hematology and Medical Oncology, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Jacobus J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Bosch
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine 5, Hematology and Medical Oncology, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Heiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bruns
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Claus
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cursiefen
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Ludwig M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Heindl
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000954:Antigens, Surface; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D005134:Eye Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000556:secondary*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D061705:Image-Guided Biopsy; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D000954:Antigens, Surface; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor