Expression and diagnostic application of C4.4A protein in squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma / 中华病理学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the diagnostic utility of C4.4A gene expression in discriminating a squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) from an adenocarcinoma by immunohistochemistry.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Immunohistochemical staining was performed to detect the expression of C4.4A protein in 157 cases of SCC and 177 cases of adenocarcinoma of various organs.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Overall, 141 of 157 cases of SCC strongly expressed C4.4A protein. In contrast, only 8 of 177 adenocarcinomas showed partial or scattered cell expression of C4.4A protein. The statistic difference between the two groups was highly significant (chi(2) = 244.93, P = 0.000), and also when the tumors were stratified according to the degree of differentiation (P = 0.000).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>C4.4A protein expression may serve as a valuable tumor marker in discriminating a squamous cell carcinoma from an adenocarcinoma, and therefore, may greatly facilitate the differential diagnosis of an epithelial malignancy.</p>