Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common skin malignancy. In fact, it is as common as the sum of all other skin malignancies combined and the incidence is rising. In this focused and histology-guided study, tissue from a patient diagnosed with aggressive BCC was analyzed by imaging mass spectrometry in order to probe the chemistry of the complex tumor environment. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry using a (CO₂)_6 k⁺ gas cluster ion beam allowed a wide range of lipid species to be detected. Their distributions were then imaged in the tissue that contained small tumor islands that were histologically classified as more/less aggressive. Maximum autocorrelation factor (MAF) analysis highlighted chemical differences between the tumors and the surrounding stroma. A closer inspection of the distribution of individual ions, selected based on the MAF loadings, showed heterogeneity in signal between different microtumors, suggesting the potential of chemically grading the aggressiveness of each individual tumor island. Sphingomyelin lipids were found to be located in stroma containing inflammatory cells.

中文翻译：

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TOF-SIMS 成像揭示了基底细胞癌微环境中的肿瘤异质性和炎症反应标志物。

基底细胞癌 (BCC) 是最常见的皮肤恶性肿瘤。事实上，它与所有其他皮肤恶性肿瘤的总和一样普遍，而且发病率正在上升。在这项重点关注且组织学指导的研究中，通过成像质谱法分析诊断为侵袭性 BCC 的患者的组织，以探测复杂肿瘤环境的化学成分。使用 (CO ₂ ) _{6 k} ⁺的飞行时间二次离子质谱法气体团簇离子束允许检测范围广泛的脂质种类。然后在包含小肿瘤岛的组织中对它们的分布进行成像，这些小肿瘤岛在组织学上被归类为更具/较低的侵袭性。最大自相关因子 (MAF) 分析突出了肿瘤与周围基质之间的化学差异。对基于 MAF 负载选择的单个离子分布的仔细检查显示不同微肿瘤之间信号的异质性，表明化学分级每个单个肿瘤岛的侵袭性的潜力。发现鞘磷脂脂质位于含有炎性细胞的基质中。