Immunocytochemical detection of bone marrow micrometastases in colorectal carcinoma patients, using a monoclonal antibody to villin.
The search continues to find methods to more effectively distinguish colorectal carcinoma patients who could be separated into high-risk and low-risk categories. Investigators have reported on the detection of occult micrometastases in bone marrow using antibodies to cytokeratin, which is a marker of epithelial cells but which has no tissue specificity, as opposed to villin, a cytoskeletal protein that is specifically involved in the formation of brush-border microvilli in the small intestine and colon epithelium. Specificity and sensitivity of antibody to villin (ID2C3) and antibody to cytokeratin (A45-B/B3) were first studied in normal bone marrow and in a test system in which cancer cell lines were mixed in normal bone marrow. In a preliminary study including 16 colorectal carcinoma patients, we compared the number of villin-positive cells with cytokeratin-presenting cells. As A45-B/B3, ID2C3 was determined to be sensitive enough to detect one cancer cell in 10(6) hematopoietic cells. Staining of hematopoietic cells with irrelevant antibody and a light staining of megakaryocytes with ID2C3 limited the specificity of the method. In colorectal carcinoma patients, correlation between ID2C3 and A45-B/B3 was 94%. Sensitivity and specificity of ID2C3 antibody to villin were satisfactory. Its clinical relevance must be investigated in further studies.
Rouzier
R
R
Unité Morphogénèse et Signalisation Cellulaires, UMR 144, Institut Curie, 12, rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France.
Bourstyn
E
E
Grozier
F
F
Berger
A
A
Louvard
D
D
Robine
S
S
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000737:chemistry*; D019046:Bone Marrow Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary*; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000473:pathology*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007633:Keratins / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; C026615:villin; D007633:Keratins