MUC4 Staining in Sarcomatoid Carcinomas

Our plain-English summary of MUC4 Staining in Sarcomatoid Carcinomas, by K.B. Berg, D. Ionescu, A.M. Churg (Modern Pathology, 2019).

The study

• Authors: K.B. Berg, D. Ionescu, A.M. Churg
• Journal: Modern Pathology
• Published: 2019;32(1):157
• Type of article: Letter, Comment
• Cited by: 3 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This is a letter to the editor, not a full research article. It responded to an earlier study by Amatya and colleagues. That study reported that a laboratory tissue stain called MUC4 appeared in most sarcomatoid lung carcinomas (21 of 29) and in none of 31 sarcomatoid mesotheliomas, which suggested the stain could help tell the two cancers apart. The authors tried to repeat this in their own laboratory using the same antibody and staining conditions. They stained 13 sarcomatoid carcinomas of the lung and 6 sarcomatoid mesotheliomas. In the sarcomatoid part of the lung carcinomas, 9 of 13 showed no staining, 3 showed scattered staining in less than 1% of cells, and 1 showed strong, widespread staining. Three of the lung carcinomas also had an epithelial part, and that part stained in all three. None of the 6 sarcomatoid mesotheliomas stained. The authors concluded that, although MUC4 may stain sarcomatoid lung carcinomas, staining was too infrequent and too limited to make the test useful for separating them from sarcomatoid mesotheliomas. The letter does not discuss asbestos exposure.

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) reporting a small laboratory attempt to replicate an earlier study's immunohistochemical staining findings
• Who was studied: Tumor samples: 13 sarcomatoid carcinomas of the lung and 6 sarcomatoid mesotheliomas, all confirmed by immunohistochemical staining and imaging or thoracoscopic findings. Where and when the cases came from is not stated beyond the authors' Vancouver, Canada, pathology departments.
• Exposure: No asbestos exposure was studied. The test examined was MUC4 immunohistochemical staining. An earlier study by Amatya et al had reported that MUC4 was expressed in sarcomatoid lung carcinomas (21/29) but not in sarcomatoid mesotheliomas (0/31).
• Main results:
  • Sarcomatoid lung carcinomas: 9 of 13 showed no staining of the sarcomatoid component
  • Sarcomatoid lung carcinomas: 3 of 13 showed scattered staining in less than 1% of cells in the sarcomatoid component
  • Sarcomatoid lung carcinomas: 1 of 13 showed strong and diffuse staining in the sarcomatoid component
  • Sarcomatoid lung carcinomas: 3 of the 13 also had an epithelial component, and the epithelial component stained in all three
  • Sarcomatoid mesotheliomas: 0 of 6 stained
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that, although MUC4 may stain sarcomatoid carcinomas of the lung, the frequency and diffuseness of positive staining were too low for the test to be useful in separating sarcomatoid carcinomas from sarcomatoid mesotheliomas.

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: Sarcomatoid, Carcinoma.

Related studies

• Reply to 'MUC4 staining in sarcomatoid carcinomas' by Berg et al — V.J. Amatya, K. Kushitani, et al. (2019)
• MUC4, a novel immunohistochemical marker identified by gene expression profiling, differentiates pleural sarcomatoid mesothelioma from lung sarcomatoid carcinoma — V.J. Amatya, K. Kushitani, et al. (2017)
• Wilms tumor 1/cytokeratin dual-color immunostaining reveals distinctive staining patterns in metastatic melanoma, metastatic carcinoma, and mesothelial cells in pleural fluids: an effective first-line test for the workup of malignant effusions — J.R. Conner, E.S. Cibas, et al. (2014)
• GATA3 is a useful immunohistochemical marker for distinguishing sarcomatoid malignant mesothelioma from lung sarcomatoid carcinoma and organizing pleuritis — Z.H. Piao, X.C. Zhou, et al. (2021)
• Immunohistological staining of reactive mesothelium, mesothelioma, and lung carcinoma with a panel of monoclonal antibodies — A.K. Ghosh, K.C. Gatter, et al. (1987)
• The diagnostic and molecular characteristics of malignant mesothelioma and ovarian/peritoneal serous carcinoma — B. Davidson (2011)

Browse more research in Modern Pathology, or return to medical research.