The separation of benign reactive mesothelium (RM) from malignant mesothelial proliferation can be a major challenge. A number of markers have been proposed, including epithelial membrane antigen, p53 protein, and P-glycoprotein. To date, however, no immunohistochemical marker that allows unequivocal discrimination of RM from malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) has been available. A family of glucose transporter isoforms (GLUT), of which GLUT-1 is a member, facilitate the entry of glucose into cells. GLUT-1 is largely undetectable by immunohistochemistry in normal epithelial tissues and benign tumors, but is expressed in a variety of malignancies. Thus, the expression of GLUT-1 appears to be a potential marker of malignant transformation. Recently, in fact, some studies have shown that GLUT-1 expression is useful for distinguishing benign from malignant lesions. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the diagnostic utility of GLUT-1 expression for diagnostic differentiation between RM and MPM. Immunohistochemical staining for GLUT-1 was performed in 40 cases of RM, 48 cases of MPM, and 58 cases of lung carcinoma. Immunohistochemical GLUT-1 expression was seen in 40 of 40 (100%) MPMs, and in all cases the expression was demonstrated by linear plasma membrane staining, sometimes with cytoplasmic staining in addition. GLUT-1 expression was also observed in 56 out of 58 (96.5%) lung carcinomas. On the other hand, no RM cases were positive for GLUT-1. GLUT-1 is a sensitive and specific immunohistochemical marker enabling differential diagnosis of RM from MPM, whereas it cannot discriminate MPM from lung carcinoma. Modern Pathology (2007) 20, 215-220.

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Background Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) predict better outcome to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). The most common mutations are exon 19 deletions (most frequently E746-A750) and L858R point mutation in exon 21. Here, we evaluated the accuracy of novel EGFR mutation specific antibodies in a Japanese cohort with NSCLC and compared to direct DNA sequencing and clinical outcome. Materials and methods Immunohistochemistry (IHC) using antibodies specific for the E746-A750 and L858R mutations in EGFR was performed on tissue microarrays of tumors from 70 gefitinib treated NSCLC patients. Extracted DNA was sequenced for mutational analysis of EGFR exons 18 to 21. Results DNA sequencing showed EGFR mutations in 41 patients (58.6%), and exon 19 deletions in 18 patients (25.7%), 61% (11/18) had a deletion in the range of E746-A750) and 12 (17.1%) had exon 21 mutations (L858R). IHC showed, for the E746-A750 and L858R mutations, sensitivity (81.8% and 75%), specificity (100%, 96.6%), PPV (100%, 81.8%) and NPV (96.7%, 94.9%). Analysis for objective response rates (ORR) and survival were not correlated to IHC staining, although the combined staining showed non-significant trends towards better overall survival for patients with EGFR mutations. Conclusions The mutation specific IHC antibodies have high sensitivity and specificity for pre-defined EFGR mutations and may be suitable for screening for these pre-defined mutations. However, negative IHC results require further mutation analyses prior to excluding EGFR-targeted therapy.

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