51. TdT expression in germ cell tumours: a possible immunohistochemical cross-reaction and diagnostic pitfall
- Author
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Camillo Di Bella, Fabio Pagni, Maurilio Ponzoni, Isabella Piga, Andrew Smith, Francesca Raimondo, Clizia Chinello, Marta Jaconi, Nicola Fusco, Fulvio Magni, Jaconi, M., Magni, F., Raimondo, F., Ponzoni, M., Chinello, C., Smith, A., Piga, I., Fusco, N., Di Bella, C., Pagni, F., Jaconi, M, Magni, F, Raimondo, F, Ponzoni, M, Chinello, C, Smith, A, Piga, I, Fusco, N, Di Bella, C, and Pagni, F
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Male ,Pathology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,differential diagnosi ,genital system ,Cross Reactions ,Mediastinal Neoplasms ,Pathology and Forensic Medicine ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Western blot ,Testicular Neoplasms ,Antibody Specificity ,DNA Nucleotidylexotransferase ,Predictive Value of Tests ,differential diagnosis ,medicine ,Dysgerminoma ,Biomarkers, Tumor ,Humans ,Ovarian Neoplasms ,biology ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,seminoma ,Antibodies, Monoclonal ,Reproducibility of Results ,General Medicine ,Seminoma ,Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal ,medicine.disease ,Immunohistochemistry ,germinal cell tumor ,terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase ,030104 developmental biology ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase ,Italy ,Polyclonal antibodies ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,Monoclonal ,biology.protein ,Female ,haematopoietic ,Germ cell ,tdt - Abstract
AimsVery recent papers proposed a possible role for the expression of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) in the tumourigenesis of gonadal and extragonadal germ cell-derived tumours (GCTs). Our multicentric study evaluated the magnitude of the immunoreactivity for TdT in GCTs, encompassing seminoma, dysgerminoma, mature teratoma and mixed GCTs.Methods and resultsThe histological series was stained with both monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, yielding a positivity of 80% of cases with well-defined nuclear reactivity. A significant difference in staining intensity between monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies was observed (p=0.005). However, exploiting western blot and more innovative proteomic approaches, no clear-cut evidence of the TdT protein was observed in the neoplastic tissues of the series.ConclusionsAlternatively to the pathogenetic link between TdT expression and GCTs tumourigenesis, we hypothesised the occurrence of a spurious immunohistochemical nuclear cross-reaction, a well-known phenomenon with important implications and a possible source of diagnostic pitfalls in routine practice for pathologists.
- Published
- 2019