title: Expression of glypican 3 in ovarian and extragonadal germ cell tumors.
abstract: Germ cell tumors (GCTs), rare malignancies that occur in a wide range of locations and display variable histologic patterns, may pose diagnostic challenges. Glypican 3 (GPC3), a membrane-bound heparan sulfate proteoglycan, has been shown to be a novel diagnostic marker in testicular GCT. However, GPC3 expression in ovarian and extragonadal GCT has not been reported. We evaluated GPC3 immunoreactivity in GCTs from 63 patients (57 children and 6 adults), including 14 ovarian and 20 extragonadal primary GCTs and 8 metastases along with 21 primary testicular GCTs for comparison. All 33 yolk sac tumors (YSTs) and both choriocarcinomas were immunoreactive for GPC3. In contrast, a minority of immature (4/10) and mature (4/35) teratomas were positive. No positivity was seen in 6 embryonal carcinomas or 5 germinomas. GPC3 is differentially expressed in ovarian and extragonadal GCTs, with expression predominantly observed in YSTs and choriocarcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Debra L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Zynger
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Everton
authors.forename: Nikolay D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Dimov
authors.forename: Pauline M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: Ximing J
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D053673:Glypicans / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009373:Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D053673:Glypicans