CD138 (Syndecan-1) in thymic tumors: correlation with various World Health Organization types and clinical outcome.
We intended to explore the relationship of CD138 with thymic tumors. A series of 64 thymic tumors were studied. Positive staining was seen in 7 of 8 (87.5%) type A, 7 of 16 (43.7%) type AB, 1 of 8 (12.5%) type B1, 1 of 5 (20%) type B2, 10 of 17 (58.8%) type B3, and 3 of 10 (30%) type C (p=0.04), respectively. In terms of subcellular location of CD138 expression, 9 of 10 (90%) CD138 positive type B3 had membranous expression, while cytoplasmic expression was identified in 7 of 7 (100%) type A, and 6 of 7 (86%) type AB (p<0.0001). Positive CD138 was noted in 20 of 31 (64.5%) cases with Masaoka stage I (p= 0.01); while negative CD138 was seen in 24 of 33 (72.7%) cases with Masaoka stages (II-IV). Tumor recurred in 4 cases (7%), all of which had negative CD138 (p=0.008). Our study suggests that CD138 could be used as an ancillary study to differentiate between WHO types. Furthermore, our findings demonstrate that advanced stage-thymic tumors as well as those with high recurrence rate tend to display a reduced expression of CD138. However, more studies with larger cohort and longer follow-up are warranted to validate the clinical utility of CD138 to assess clinical behavior and prognosis of thymic tumors.
Department of pathology, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA.
Osama M
OM
Al-Agha
Weiguo
W
Liu
Rameela
R
Chandrasekhar
Gregory
G
Wilding
Dongfeng
D
Tan
Sadir
S
Alrawi
Thaer
T
Khoury
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D053668:Syndecan-1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism*; D014944:World Health Organization
D053668:Syndecan-1
CD138; WHO classification; correlation; prognosis; syndecan-1; thymic tumors