title: Diagnostic and clinical significance of D2-40 expression in the normal human thymus and thymoma.
abstract: Human thymus development and thymoma behavior remain elusive, in spite of many acquisitions in the field in last decades. In the present paper, we analyzed the immunohistochemical expression of D2-40 in the normal human thymus and thymoma. In both fetal and postnatal normal thymus, we found a strong expression of D2-40 in the subcapsular and cortico-medullary epithelial cells, and lack of expression in the thymus of involution. These findings support a role for podoplanin in the proliferation of some subtypes of epithelial cells of the normal thymus stroma. In thymoma, the expression of D2-40 was detected in neoplastic cells in 18 from 26 cases (69.23%). No correlation was found between D2-40 expression and histological types of thymoma, but strong correlation was noticed with tumor stage. Based on these results, it is suggested that D2-40 expression is a good predictor of invasion and can be considered as a potential target for therapy in selected cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Romania. raica@umft.ro
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raica
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kondylis
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mogoantă
authors.forename: Svetlana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Encică
authors.forename: Anca Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Cîmpean
mesh_terms: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005333:Fetus / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011379:Prognosis; D013945:Thymoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D058846:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived; C500987:monoclonal antibody D2-40