title: Differential expression of GATA-3 in urothelial carcinoma variants.
abstract: GATA binding protein 3 (GATA-3) is a novel immunohistochemical marker for urothelial carcinoma (UC); however, few studies have investigated GATA-3's role as a marker for UC variants. We used immunohistochemistry to assess GATA-3 expression in different UC variants, including micropapillary (n = 46), sarcomatoid (n = 43), small cell carcinoma (n = 22), and plasmacytoid (n = 16) variants, and we also compared GATA-3 expression in conventional bladder UC (n = 103) to that in squamous cell carcinoma (n = 14). GATA-3 expression was present in 70% (72/103) of conventional bladder UCs and highly concordant between matched primary and metastatic UCs. The GATA-3 expression levels of the micropapillary variants (57%; 26/46) and plasmacytoid variants (44%; 7/16) were not significantly different from that of conventional UC. However, the GATA-3 expression levels of the sarcomatoid variants (16%; 7/43) and small cell carcinoma variants (5%; 1/22), which only weakly expressed the protein, were significantly lower than that of conventional UC (P < .001). Only 7% of squamous cell carcinomas (1/14) expressed GATA-3, and it was also significantly lower than that of conventional UC (P < .001). GATA-3 expression was not significantly associated with tumor stage or patients' clinical outcomes. In conclusion, GATA-3 expression differed among UC variants. GATA-3 is a useful marker for confirming the urothelial origin of micropapillary and plasmacytoid UC variants but not that of sarcomatoid or small cell carcinoma variants. GATA-3 can also be used in differentiating UC from squamous cell carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Heitzman
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Ashish M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Kamat
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Colin P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Dinney
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Bogdan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Czerniak
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA. Electronic address: ccguo@mdanderson.org.
authors.forename: Charles C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002295:Carcinoma, Transitional Cell / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D050990:GATA3 Transcription Factor / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D019459:Urothelium / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D050990:GATA3 Transcription Factor; C494749:GATA3 protein, human
keywords: GATA-3; Immunohistochemistry; Urothelial carcinoma variants