Characterization of human non-small cell lung cancer histology samples by atomic force microscopy

This study utilized atomic force microscopy (AFM) to analyze intraoperative frozen histology samples from 26 patients with non-small cell lung cancer tissue, specifically adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Clear and measurable structural differences were identified between tumor cell regions and stroma of the two subtypes. Nuclear region morphologies varied among cell groups – ranging from indistinct nuclear regions in stromal tumor cells to partially torn nuclei in non-cancerous bronchial epithelial cells. This observation may indicate differences in nuclear structure characteristics. Compared to control samples, stromal regions of both cancer types exhibited denser coverage of striated fibrils with a 67 nm periodicity characteristic to collagen. Standard surface roughness tests on randomly selected sites within sections (tumor and non-malignant) suggest potential for distinguishing malignant from control histology samples. Combining atomic force microscopy with histopathological analysis may offer additional structural insight into lung tissue alterations associated with malignancy.