Epithelial markers in the diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma: an immunocytochemical study.
Immunocytochemical stains for three epithelial cell markers--keratin, epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)--have been examined on paraffin-embedded material from 14 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Tumour cells staining positively for keratin were found in all cases and for EMA in eight; two tumours contained CEA-positive cells. Seven cases of Hodgkin's disease and 24 non-Hodgkin's lymphomas were uniformly negative. Keratin is the most reliable epithelial marker for identifying NPC and excluding lymphoma. The regular finding of stainable keratin in non-keratinising and anaplastic NPC supports the view that NPC is a homogeneous group exhibiting variable degrees of squamous differentiation.
D000941:Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000276:immunology; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000276:immunology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004848:Epithelium / Q000276:immunology; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007633:Keratins / Q000276:immunology; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000175:diagnosis; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*
D000941:Antigens; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D007633:Keratins