E-cadherin, E-selectin and vascular cell adhesion molecule: immunohistochemical markers for differentiation between mesothelioma and metastatic pulmonary adenocarcinoma?

Our plain-English summary of E-cadherin, E-selectin and vascular cell adhesion molecule: immunohistochemical markers for differentiation between mesothelioma and metastatic pulmonary adenocarcinoma?, by A.M. Müller, A. Weichert, K.M. Müller (Virchows Archiv, 2002).

The study

• Authors: A.M. Müller, A. Weichert, K.M. Müller
• Journal: Virchows Archiv
• Published: 2002;441(1):41-6
• Cited by: 13 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Pleural mesotheliomas, especially pure epithelioid mesotheliomas, may histologically be easily confused with peripheral pulmonary adenocarcinomas or pleural carcinosis. As there is no specific antibody for mesotheliomas, today a panel of immunohistochemical markers is used for the differential diagnosis of these two tumour entities. In search of further significant antibodies for application onto formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue, we immunohistochemically investigated the expression pattern of three adhesion molecules: vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM), E-selectin and E-cadherin. A comparatively large number of 44 mesotheliomas (15 epithelioid, 15 biphasic, 14 sarcomatoid) and 18 peripheral pulmonary adenocarcinomas were analysed. While for these two tumour entities there were no significant differences of the staining patterns for VCAM and E-selectin, there were significant differences in the expression of E-cadherin: while nearly all adenocarcinomas stained positively, there was almost no staining reaction of the mesotheliomas. Therefore, E-cadherin -- in contrast to E-selectin and VCAM -- appears to be a further relevant immunohistochemical marker for the distinction between adenocarcinomas and mesotheliomas.

In plain English

This laboratory study, from a pathology institute in Bochum, Germany, tested whether three cell-adhesion molecules could help pathologists tell pleural mesothelioma apart from lung adenocarcinoma, two cancers that can look alike under the microscope. The authors stained tissue from 44 pleural mesotheliomas (15 epithelioid, 15 biphasic, 14 sarcomatoid) and 18 peripheral lung adenocarcinomas with antibodies against VCAM, E-selectin and E-cadherin. Two observers scored the slides in a blinded fashion. All of the mesothelioma patients had been exposed to asbestos in the past, and increased numbers of asbestos fibres were found in their lung tissue. VCAM and E-selectin stained both tumour types. For VCAM, all 18 adenocarcinomas stained strongly or moderately, as did 26 of the 30 epithelioid or biphasic mesotheliomas. E-cadherin differed between the two. Fourteen of 18 adenocarcinomas stained moderately or strongly, and 3 stained weakly. Among the mesotheliomas, 7 epithelioid, 10 biphasic and 12 sarcomatoid tumours showed no staining, and the rest showed only weak or focal staining. The authors concluded that VCAM and E-selectin were not appropriate markers for this distinction, but that E-cadherin appeared to be an additional promising marker.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Laboratory (immunohistochemical) study comparing staining of tumour tissue samples, scored in a blinded fashion by two observers
• Who was studied: Tissue from 18 peripheral lung adenocarcinomas and 44 pleural mesotheliomas (15 epithelioid, 15 biphasic, 14 sarcomatoid), studied at a pathology institute in Bochum, Germany; dates of the cases are not given
• Exposure: The study tested staining with antibodies against VCAM, E-selectin and E-cadherin. All mesothelioma patients had past asbestos exposure, and electron-microscopic fibre analysis found increased asbestos fibres in their lung tissue. Fibre types are not given.
• Main results:
  • VCAM: all 18 adenocarcinomas stained, strongly (5 cases) or moderately (13)
  • VCAM: 26 of 30 epithelioid or biphasic mesotheliomas stained strongly or moderately and the other 4 weakly. Among the 14 sarcomatoid mesotheliomas, 8 stained strongly or moderately, 5 weakly and 1 not at all.
  • E-selectin: the text says 13 of 18 adenocarcinomas stained strongly and 5 weakly; Table 5 lists 8 moderate and 5 strong
  • E-selectin: all mesotheliomas showed at least weak staining. 14 of 15 epithelioid and 13 of 15 biphasic mesotheliomas stained moderately or strongly, but only 4 of 14 sarcomatoid ones did.
  • E-cadherin, adenocarcinomas: 14 of 18 stained moderately or strongly and 3 weakly. One, a minimal to undifferentiated carcinoma, did not stain.
  • E-cadherin, epithelioid mesotheliomas: 8 of 15 showed weak to focally weak staining and the remaining 7 showed none
  • E-cadherin, biphasic mesotheliomas: 1 of 15 showed weak staining of most epithelioid cells and 4 had only a few weakly stained cells. The remaining 10 showed no staining.
  • E-cadherin, sarcomatoid mesotheliomas: 2 of 14 showed very weak focal staining and 12 showed none
• The authors' conclusion: The authors did not regard VCAM or E-selectin as appropriate markers for telling formalin-fixed lung adenocarcinomas from mesotheliomas. They concluded that E-cadherin appeared to be an additional promising antibody for this purpose.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Lung cancer, Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mesothelioma, Adenocarcinoma, Pleural Mesothelioma, Epithelioid, Differential Diagnosis, Biphasic Mesothelioma, Sarcomatoid.

Related studies

• E-cadherin and calretinin: a useful combination of immunochemical markers for differentiation between mesothelioma and metastatic adenocarcinoma — M.P. Leers, M.M. Aarts, et al. (1998)
• Identification of DAB2 and Intelectin-1 as Novel Positive Immunohistochemical Markers of Epithelioid Mesothelioma by Transcriptome Microarray Analysis for Its Differentiation From Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma — M. Kuraoka, V.J. Amatya, et al. (2017)
• Calretinin, thrombomodulin, CEA, and CD15: a useful combination of immunohistochemical markers for differentiating pleural epithelial mesothelioma from peripheral pulmonary adenocarcinoma — C.E. Comin, L. Novelli, et al. (2001)
• Differential expression of N-cadherin in pleural mesotheliomas and E-cadherin in lung adenocarcinomas in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues — A.C. Han, A. Peralta-Soler, et al. (1997)
• The differential expression of N-cadherin and E-cadherin distinguishes pleural mesotheliomas from lung adenocarcinomas — A. Peralta Soler, K.A. Knudsen, et al. (1995)
• Combined use of novel epithelial (MOC-31) and mesothelial (HBME-1) immunohistochemical markers for optimal first line diagnostic distinction between mesothelioma and metastatic carcinoma in pleura — C. González-Lois, C. Ballestín, et al. (2001)

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