An assessment of the value of epithelial membrane antigen and other epithelial markers in solving diagnostic problems in tumour histopathology
- 1 July 1983
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Nature in Journal of Molecular Histology
- Vol. 15 (7), 645-654
- https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01002986
Abstract
Using standard immunohistological techniques on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded sections, we have evaluated the role of epithelial membrane antigen in the histopathological diagnosis of tumours. Of the 70 samples examined, 22 were taken for staging purposes from patients known to have carcinoma and, in half these cases, malignant cells were seen which could not be identified with confidence by conventional means. Forty-eight tumours were stained in order to determine their histogenesis. Twenty-two of these were positive and 20 subsequently proved to be epithelial on follow-up studies, including six in which a diagnosis of non-epithelial malignancy had been made on conventional preparations. The distinction of anaplastic carcinoma from malignant lymphoma and of spindle-cell carcinoma from sarcoma were the most useful applications. One of the positive tumours was of germ cell origin and in one the histogenesis is still not clear. Comparison with carcinoembryonic antigen and pre-keratin showed that epithelial membrane antigen was the most sensitive marker of epithelial differentiation in formalin-fixed tissue. A combination of all three reagents, though, increases diagnostic accuracy and allows tentative suggestions to be made about the possible site of origin of a metastatic carcinoma.This publication has 15 references indexed in Scilit:
- Monophasic synovial sarcoma, epithelioid sarcoma and chordoid sarcoma: ultrastructural evidence for a common histogenesis, despite light microscopic diversityHistopathology, 1982
- ANTIBODIES TO INTERMEDIATE FILAMENTS AS DIAGNOSTIC-TOOLS - HUMAN GASTROINTESTINAL CARCINOMAS EXPRESS PREKERATIN1982
- DISTRIBUTION OF MYOEPITHELIAL CELLS AND BASEMENT-MEMBRANE PROTEINS IN THE NORMAL BREAST AND IN BENIGN AND MALIGNANT BREAST DISEASES1982
- Immunohistochemical localisation of keratin in human lung tumoursVirchows Archiv, 1982
- AN IMMUNO-CYTOCHEMICAL STUDY OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF EPITHELIAL MEMBRANE ANTIGEN IN NORMAL AND DISORDERED SQUAMOUS EPITHELIUM1982
- Distinctive functional characteristics of human „T”︁ lymphocytes defined by E rosetting or a monoclonal anti‐T cell antibodyEuropean Journal of Immunology, 1981
- A new antigen on the epithelial membrane: its immunoperoxidase localisation in normal and neoplastic tissue.Journal of Clinical Pathology, 1979
- Antigenic Determinants of Carcinoembryonic AntigenScandinavian Journal of Immunology, 1978
- Monophasic synovial sarcoma–a histological entity?Histopathology, 1977
- Tendosynovial sarcoma.A clinicopathological study of 136 CasesCancer, 1977