Pan C C, Ho D M, Chen W Y, Chiang H, Fahn H J, Wang L S
Department of Pathology, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
J Pathol. 1998 Feb;184(2):207-11. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-9896(199802)184:2<207::AID-PATH967>3.0.CO;2-X.
Expression of the cell adhesion molecules including E-cadherin and its cytosolic binding proteins, alpha- and beta-catenins, has been widely studied in a variety of tumours, but not, to date, in thymic epithelial tumours. To observe the expression pattern of these adhesion molecules, immunohistochemical stains for E-cadherin (E-CD) and alpha- and beta-catenins were performed on 89 cases of thymoma which were classified as cortical (57 cases), mixed (18 cases), and medullary (14 cases), based on the classification of Marino and Müller-Hermelink. The majority of cortical thymomas showed diffuse and homogenous membrane immunoreactivity for these molecules (88 per cent for E-CD; 86 per cent for alpha-catenin; 91 per cent for beta-catenin) and the remaining cases showed heterogeneous immunoreactivity, whereas almost all mixed and medullary thymomas revealed decreased expression or were negative. In each histological subtype of thymoma, the expression did not correlate with invasion or with the presence of myasthenia gravis. These results indicate that the expression of E-CD and alpha- and beta-catenins is more closely associated with the histological subtypes of thymoma than with their biological behaviour.
包括E-钙黏蛋白及其胞质结合蛋白α-连环蛋白和β-连环蛋白在内的细胞黏附分子的表达，已在多种肿瘤中得到广泛研究，但迄今为止，尚未在胸腺上皮肿瘤中进行研究。为了观察这些黏附分子的表达模式，我们对89例胸腺瘤进行了E-钙黏蛋白（E-CD）、α-连环蛋白和β-连环蛋白的免疫组织化学染色。这些胸腺瘤根据马里诺和米勒-赫尔梅林克的分类法分为皮质型（57例）、混合型（18例）和髓质型（14例）。大多数皮质型胸腺瘤对这些分子表现出弥漫性和均匀的膜免疫反应（E-CD为88%；α-连环蛋白为86%；β-连环蛋白为91%），其余病例表现出异质性免疫反应，而几乎所有混合型和髓质型胸腺瘤均显示表达降低或为阴性。在胸腺瘤的每种组织学亚型中，其表达与侵袭或重症肌无力的存在均无相关性。这些结果表明，E-CD、α-连环蛋白和β-连环蛋白的表达与胸腺瘤的组织学亚型关系更为密切，而非与其生物学行为相关。
