Department of Pathology, Saba University School of Medicine, Saba, Netherlands-Antilles.
Histol Histopathol. 2010 Jan;25(1):83-90. doi: 10.14670/HH-25.83.
Claudins are tight junction proteins that are critical for the sealing of cellular sheets and controlling paracellular ion flux. The claudin family of proteins is composed of at least 24 closely related transmembrane proteins, most of them are well characterized at the gene and protein levels. The claudins are present in variety of normal tissues, hyperplastic conditions, benign neoplasms, and cancers that exhibit epithelial differentiation. Loss of claudins expression has also been reported in several malignancies as well. Differential expression of various members of the claudins family in cancers can be used in confirming the histologic identity of certain cancers and excluding others. Examples include the use of immunohistochemical detection of claudins to differentiate between oncocytoma and chromophobe renal cell carcinoma, endometrial endometrioid carcinoma and seropapillary carcinoma, mesothelioma and metastatic adenocarcinoma, hepatocellular and biliary tract carcinomas, and between intestinal-type and diffuse-type gastric carcinoma. Expression of certain claudins can also be used as markers that can predict patient's prognosis. Thus, it seems that attempts to identify expression claudins in cancers are becoming increasingly useful in histologic diagnosis of tumors as well as means to assess patient's prognosis.
紧密连接蛋白 Claudin 对于细胞片层的密封和控制细胞旁离子通量至关重要。 Claudin 蛋白家族由至少 24 种密切相关的跨膜蛋白组成，其中大多数在基因和蛋白水平上都得到了很好的描述。 Claudin 存在于多种正常组织、增生性疾病、良性肿瘤和表现出上皮分化的癌症中。在几种恶性肿瘤中也报道了 Claudin 表达的缺失。 Claudin 家族的不同成员在癌症中的差异表达可用于确认某些癌症的组织学特征并排除其他癌症。例如，使用 Claudin 的免疫组织化学检测来区分嗜酸性细胞瘤和嫌色性肾细胞癌、子宫内膜样腺癌和浆液性乳头状癌、间皮瘤和转移性腺癌、肝细胞癌和胆道癌以及肠型和弥漫型胃癌。某些 Claudin 的表达也可用作预测患者预后的标志物。因此，在肿瘤的组织学诊断中，试图鉴定 Claudin 在癌症中的表达似乎变得越来越有用，也是评估患者预后的一种手段。
