An analysis of the sensitivity and specificity of the cytokeratin marker CAM 5.2 for epithelial tumours. Results of a study of 203 sarcomas, 50 carcinomas and 28 malignant melanomas

Abstract

Two hundred and three sarcomas, 40 carcinomas, 10 carcinomas with spindle cell features, 27 malignant melanomas and one spindle cell melanoma were examined using CAM 5.2, a monoclonal antibody to cytokeratin. This antibody which was prepared against colorectal carcinoma cells and which identifies low molecular weight intermediate filament cytokeratin proteins is suitable for use in formalin fixed, paraffin embedded material. Seventeen of the 203 sarcomas showed positive staining. These included 15/21 synovial sarcomas, 1/5 epithelioid sarcomas and 1/18 malignant neural tumours. Five carcinosarcomas showed positive staining of their epithelial components but negative staining of their spindle cell components; three out of four pure spindle cell carcinomas stained positively; a metastasis from a spindle cell renal carcinoma was negative. A spindle cell thymoma also stained positively. Thirty-seven of the 40 carcinomas stained positively; the three negative carcinomas were a squamous cell carcinoma, a renal cell carcinoma and an oat cell carcinoma. All malignant melanomas were negative. These results are compared with those of other workers and the sensitivity and specificity of CAM 5.2 as an epithelial marker is assessed.

Subcellular Distribution of Cytokeratin and Vimentin in Malignant Rhabdoid Tumor: Three-Dimensional Imaging with Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy and Double Immunofluorescence

“…CKs 8 and 18 are mainly expressed in a variety of single-layered or simple epithelial tissues and are persistently expressed in a wide variety of carcinomas derived from the visceral epithelia, including the stomach, intestinal tract, liver, pancreas, and mammary gland (19). Also, expression of CKs 8 and 18 is observed in some malignant mesenchymal tumors such as leiomyosarcoma and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (20), in addition to epithelioid sarcoma and synovial sarcoma (20,21), which are classified as miscellaneous tumors. Therefore, the (6,17), epithelial (10,22), myogenic (10,23), and smooth-muscle-cell (16) phenotype.…”

Clinical significance of Ki-67 proliferation index in disease progression and prognosis of patients with resected colorectal carcinoma

“…The aim of this study was to assess the proliferation index (PI) in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections of colorectal carcinomas using two monoclonal antibodies: MIB-1 against the nuclear protein Ki-67, believed to be expressed exclusively in proliferating but not in resting cells 10 , and an anticytokeratin antibody (CAM 5·2) currently used to identify cells of epithelial origin 11 . In addition, the relationship between PI and standard clinicopathological findings was evaluated, and the potential role of PI in the prediction of long-term survival in patients with colorectal carcinoma was assessed.…”

Cytokeratin expression in malignant melanoma: potential application of in-situ hybridization analysis of mRNA

“…It has been generally accepted that malignant melanoma (MM) lacks CK expression immunohistochemically and this serves to differentiate MM from poorly differentiated carcinomas [3][4][5]. A few reports indicated the presence of CKs in some types of melanoma [6][7][8][9][10] or cultured melanoma cells [11][12][13].…”