Availability of CD10 Immunohistochemistry as a Marker of Breast Myoepithelial Cells on Paraffin Sections

Abstract

CD10, also called common acute lymphoblastic leukemia antigen (CALLA), was recently found to be expressed in nonhematopoietic tissues. Although CD10 was also identified in human breast myoepithelial cells, its availability of immunohistochemistry on paraffin sections has not been examined so far. In the present study, we demonstrated CD10 immunohistochemically on paraffin sections of both normal and pathological breast tissues, comparing its staining patterns to those of smooth muscle actin (SMA), which is now commonly used to highlight myoepithelium. CD10 was consistently positive in normal breast myoepithelial cells. CD10 also clearly highlighted myoepithelial cells in intraductal papilloma, adenosis, ductal hyperplasia, fibroadenoma, and phyllodes tumor as well as SMA did. In atypical ductal hyperplasia and ductal carcinoma in situ, continuous, discontinuous, and totally negative stainings of both CD10 and SMA were noted, depending on foci of neoplastic cell nests. However, both stainings clearly demonstrated myoepithelial cells of cancerized acini, being useful in differentiating lobular cancerization from microinvasion. Because SMA was also positive in normal vessels and spindle-shaped stromal cells, CD10, which was negative in vessels, was useful in differentiating myoepithelial cells from thin vascular wall in intracystic lesions with delicate papillae. Although background staining of spindle-shaped stromal cells was also noted in CD10, the positive cell number was less, and the signal was weaker than that of SMA. The absence of myoepithelial cells in invasive ductal carcinomas was more clearly highlighted by CD10 than SMA. We concluded that CD10 could be another useful marker of breast myoepithelial cells on paraffin sections. Combination of CD10 and SMA will provide more sophisticated information about presence or absence of myoepithelial cells in confusing breast lesions.

Myoepithelial markers are expressed in at least 29% of oestrogen receptor negative invasive breast carcinoma

“…The number of cases staining for CD10 and smooth muscle actin was more limited, but these are the most likely cases with more definite myoepithelial differentiation. Neither CD10 7,8 nor smooth muscle actin 9,10 has been shown previously, or in this study, to stain luminal epithelial cells. If the cases positive with these two antibodies are considered together, this would mean that 22 out of the 77 ER-negative tumours (29%) showed strong evidence of myoepithelial differentiation, and 10 of these 22 were also positive for S100.…”

“…This dichotomy of expression was also noted, to some extent, in stromal myofibroblasts, which tended to be more commonly and extensively stained with smooth muscle actin rather than CD10, although positive staining with the latter was noted in several cases in this as well as in other studies. 8,37 In this respect, recent studies have suggested the existence of more than one type of myofibroblasts in breast lesions, which vary in their expression of smooth muscle actin and CD34. 38 It has to be added here, that it would be interesting to compare the staining results of the recently introduced nuclear myoepithelial cell marker p63 39 with the more established cytoplasmic markers for these cells in a future study.…”

“…Normal basal, including myoepithelial, cells of the breast are ERnegative. 5,6 CD10, 7,8 smooth muscle actin 9,10 and S100 11 are markers of these basal cells that can be used for their demonstration in routinely processed paraffin sections. Normal luminal breast epithelial cells are usually negative for these three markers.…”

“…Normal luminal breast epithelial cells are usually negative for these three markers. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] This study was aimed at comparing the incidence of positive staining for the above-mentioned three myoepithelial markers in ER-negative and -positive invasive breast carcinoma, to investigate the possibility that differentiation along myoepithelial lines plays a role in imparting ER negativity on some breast carcinomas.…”

Phenotypic composition of salivary gland tumors: an application of principle component analysis to tissue microarray data

“…Although the expression patterns of CK7, CK8, CK14, CK19, a-smooth muscle actin (aSMA), caldesmon and calponin have been reported already, [2][3][4][5][6][7] there are only a few reports, or none, describing the expression of p63, 4,8 maspin, 14-3-3s, CD10 9 and CD44v6 10 in salivary gland tumors. Briefly, the putative functions of these molecules are summarized as follows.…”