Squamous differentiation in primary urothelial carcinoma of the urinary tract as seen by MAC387 immunohistochemistry
- Antonio Lopez-Beltran1,
- Maria J Requena2,
- Jose Alvarez-Kindelan2,
- Ana Quintero3,
- Ana Blanca3,
- Rodolfo Montironi4
- 1Unit of Anatomic Pathology, Cordoba University Medical School and Reina Sofia University Hospital, Cordoba, Spain
- 2Urology service, Reina Sofia University Hospital, Cordoba, Spain
- 3Biomedical Research Unit, Reina Sofia University Hospital, Cordoba, Spain
- 4Institute of Pathological Anatomy and Histopathology, Polytechnic University of the Marche Region, Ancona, Italy
- Correspondence to: Professor A Lopez-Beltran Unit of Anatomical Pathology, Avda Menendez Pidal s/n, E-14004 Cordoba, Spain; em1lobea{at}uco.es
- Accepted 3 July 2006
- Published Online First 1 August 2006
Abstract
Squamous differentiation (SqD) is variably present in urinary tract tumours, but its significance remains unclear. In this study, SqD was assessed by immunohistochemistry using the monoclonal antibody Mac387 in 145 urothelial tumours (bladder, n = 115; renal pelvis, n = 30). Mac387 detects the myelomonocytic L1 antigen; a member of the calgranulin family shared by epithelial cells and keratinocytes. L1 antigen was shown in SqD in urothelial carcinomas of the bladder or the renal pelvis, including 11 cases with focal SqD unrecognised by conventional analysis. SqD is more frequent in renal pelvic tumours (p = 0.027) and increases with grade/stage mainly in bladder carcinoma (grade, p = 0.05; stage, p = 0.005). Stage Ta/T1 bladder carcinomas with SqD recurred more (p = 0.021). In conclusion, Mac387 efficiently shows SqD in urothelial tumours.
Footnotes
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Published Online First 1 August 2006
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Competing interests: None.
