Leiomyoid mesotheliomas

Our plain-English summary of Leiomyoid mesotheliomas, by H. Battifora (Histopathology, 1993).

The study

• Author: H. Battifora
• Journal: Histopathology
• Published: 1993;22(6):601; author reply 602
• Type of article: Comment, Letter
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This item was a short letter to the editor of Histopathology, not a research study. It reported no new patients or data. The author, H. Battifora of City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California, responded to a 1992 paper by Mayall, Goddard and Gibbs titled "Intermediate filament expression in mesotheliomas: leiomyoid mesotheliomas are not uncommon." The author noted that Mayall et al. had been able to stain only 86% of their mesotheliomas for cytokeratins. The author argued that this could only be explained by a technical problem, because, citing the author's own earlier work, 100% of mesotheliomas should have stained. Mayall et al. had not described their method, so the author said it was only possible to speculate about the cause. The author suggested three possibilities. The sections may not have been pre-digested. The protease digestion time may not have been adjusted for long formalin fixation, as in autopsy material. Or the antibody may not have been sensitive enough for low-molecular-weight keratins. The author said the failure raised questions about the accuracy of their other stains. The letter did not discuss asbestos.

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: Letter to the editor (correspondence) commenting on another group's published paper; no new study data
• Who was studied: No patients were studied. The letter comments on the mesotheliomas reported in Mayall et al., Histopathology 1992.
• Exposure: Not applicable. The letter concerns laboratory immunostaining methods for cytokeratins, not asbestos or any other exposure.
• Main results:
  • The author suggested that Mayall et al. may have failed to pre-digest the tissue sections before staining.
  • Alternatively, the author suggested, they may not have adjusted the protease digestion period to compensate for long formalin fixation (for example, in autopsy material).
  • A further possibility the author raised was that the antibody used may not have been sensitive enough for low-molecular-weight keratins.
  • The author stated that the failure to label all the mesotheliomas for keratins raised questions about the accuracy of Mayall et al.'s other stains.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that Mayall et al.'s staining of only 86% of mesotheliomas for cytokeratins could only be explained by technical deficiency, because, in the author's view, 100% of mesotheliomas should stain.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author stated that Mayall et al. gave no details of their method, so the author could only speculate about what went wrong.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mesothelioma.

Related studies

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• Localized fibrous tumor of the serosal cavities. Immunohistochemical, electron-microscopic, and flow-cytometric DNA study — A.K. el-Naggar, J.Y. Ro, et al. (1989)
• Peritoneal malignant mesothelioma versus serous papillary adenocarcinoma. A histochemical and immunohistochemical comparison — D.J. Bollinger, M.R. Wick, et al. (1989)
• Value of mesothelial and epithelial antibodies in distinguishing diffuse peritoneal mesothelioma in females from serous papillary carcinoma of the ovary and peritoneum — R.L. Attanoos, R. Webb, et al. (2002)

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