Laminin-5 is a biomarker of invasiveness in cervical adenocarcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Glandular lesions are often problematic for diagnostic cervical pathology. The survival of patients with adenocarcinoma is significantly poorer than that of patient with squamous cell carcinoma. One reason for this increased risk is the aggressive invasiveness of adenocarcinoma. Therefore additional biomarkers, to supplement morphological diagnosis of adenocarcinoma, are necessary. We have assessed the diagnostic utility of Laminin-5 (Laminin γ2 chain): Lam-5 in the diagnosis of the invasiveness of cervical adenocarcinoma and related glandular lesions.


METHODS
Lam-5 immunohistochemistry was performed on archival specimens from 8 patients with uterine leiomyoma as a negative control group, 6 patients with endocervical gland hyperplasia, 6 patients with adenocarcinoma in situ, 6 patients with microinvasive adenocarcinoma and 24 patients with invasive adenocarcinoma.


RESULTS
The expression of Lam-5 was not detected in normal mucosa, but was seen along the basement membrane in endocervical gland hyperplasia and adenocarcinoma in situ and was observed in the cytoplasm of tumor cells in microinvasive and invasive adenocarcinoma.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that Lam-5 is a useful biomarker in the evaluation of invasiveness in cervical adenocarcinoma.
The virtual slides for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/7316562925827381.
Department of Diagnostic Pathology, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, 2630 Sugitani, Toyama City, Toyama, 930-0194, Japan. imura@med.u-toyama.ac.jp
Johji
J
Imura
Yoshiaki
Y
Uchida
Kazuhiro
K
Nomoto
Kazuhito
K
Ichikawa
Shigeki
S
Tomita
Tatsuo
T
Iijima
Takahiro
T
Fujimori
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D001706:Biopsy; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000032:analysis*; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007889:Leiomyoma / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D000097794:Kalinin
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D000097794:Kalinin