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Fibrillar Structures ("Cell Web") in the Cells of Human Adenocarcinomas¹

Department of Anatomy, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

Forty-seven human adenocarcinomas were stained with the tannic acid-phosphomolybdic acid-Amido black (TPA) technic in the hope of demonstrating the fibrillar components of the cytoplasm referred to as "cell web."

Cell web fibrils are observed in all adenocarcinomas, though in variable amounts. Lumens are outlined by a stained line composed of the fibrils making up the terminal web and the associated terminal bars; at the periphery of cell columns, the cell bases may contain fibrillar bundles, the basal web, and along the sides of the cells, scanty bundles connected with desmosomes may be seen, the lateral web. These features are particularly distinct in the columnar cells of "alveolar" adenocarcinomas. In less differentiated adenocarcinomas composed of broad columns of multilayered cells, terminal webs, and terminal bars are seen around a number of small lumens (little or not visible with routine stains), but basal and lateral webs are seen in only a few of these cells.

Because of the staining of myofibrils in contractile cells, myoepithelial cells are intensely stained and are thus demonstrated to be frequently present at the surface of cell columns in breast tumors. Similarly, scattered smooth muscle cells are often associated with intestinal tumors.

In conclusion, the TPA technic may be useful not only in showing the various elements of the cell web in tumor cell (and thus revealing a high frequency of lumens in poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas), but also in demonstrating that contractile cells are often associated with certain types of adenocarcinomas.

¹ This work was carried out with the support of a grant from the National Cancer Institute of Canada and USPHS Grant 5T1-GM-721-04.

² Present address: Department of Pathology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.

³ Present address: Department of Anatomy, University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.

Received 4/ 4/66. Accepted 5/24/66.