Quantification and evaluation of matrix fibrillar structures in lung carcinoma

• Grant number: 23/01978-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2023
• End date: February 29, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Pathological Anatomy and Clinical Pathology
• Principal Investigator: Vera Luiza Capelozzi
• Grantee: Maria Luiza Fernezlian de Souza
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/20403-6 - Biomolecular markers of proliferation and remodeling in acute and chronic respiratory diseases: promising therapeutic targets, AP.TEM

Abstract

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is an essential component in tissues and organs, as it regulates cellular processes throughout the body, being essential during development, tissue repair, and homeostasis. Furthermore, the ECM is responsible for a series of signals that regulate and adjust cellular processes, such as proliferation, cell survival, determination of cell fate, cell migration and invasion, and tissue morphogenesis. Its composition is quite diverse, having as its main components fibrous proteins (collagen, fibronectin, elastin, and laminin) and glycosaminoglycans. In cancer, the ECM presents important changes that perform both pro and anti-tumorigenic functions, mainly affecting the cell migration process. In this context, the elastic fibers present in the ECM can play multiple roles in the oncological process, generating impacts on tumor growth, through cellular functions such as adhesion, differentiation, migration, phenotypic stability, and resistance to apoptosis. Thus, the combination of these fibers' expression with the tumor microenvironment dynamics can alter cell signaling mechanisms, directly or indirectly impacting tumorigenesis and clinical outcome. Thus, the present project aims to evaluate the expression of two fundamental elastic fibers of the ECM (elastin and fibrillin) in specimens of non-small cell lung carcinoma in order to understand their behavior in different histological types and their possible correlation with the clinical outcome of these patients.