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MOC‐31 aids in the differentiation of metastatic adenocarcinoma from hepatocellular carcinoma
Author(s) -
Niemann Theodore H.,
Hughes Jonathan H.,
De Young Barry R.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
cancer cytopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19991025)87:5<295::aid-cncr9>3.0.co;2-1
Subject(s) - medicine , hepatocellular carcinoma , adenocarcinoma , oncology , metastatic adenocarcinoma , pathology , cancer
BACKGROUND Fine‐needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) is frequently used to diagnose mass lesions in the liver. Differentiating metastatic adenocarcinoma from primary hepatocellular carcinoma can be difficult. Despite a number of morphologic criteria, there remain occasional cases in which the cytologic features fail to resolve this differential reliably; in these cases ancillary studies may be useful. Recently, it has been reported that the antibody MOC‐31 reliably separates metastatic adenocarcinoma from hepatocellular carcinoma. In this study we examine the utility of MOC‐31 in liver FNAB material. METHODS Thirty‐three archival, alcohol‐fixed, paraffin‐embedded cell blocks representing 17 cases of hepatocellular carcinomas and 16 cases of metastatic adenocarcinoma were retreived. After protease digestion, the sections were immunostained with the antibody MOC‐31 (Dako, Carpinteria, CA) utilizing a modified avidin‐biotin complex technique. Only membrane‐based reactivity was considered positive. RESULTS In five cases there was insufficient diagnostic material remaining in the cell block for immunohistochemical staining. Among the remaining cases, MOC‐31 reactivity was observed in 10 of 12 metastatic adenocarcinomas and 2 of 16 hepatocellular carcinomas. For metastatic adenocarcinoma the presence of MOC‐31 reactivity yields a sensitivity of 83%, a specificity of 87%, a positive predictive value of 83%, and a negative predicitive value of 87%. CONCLUSIONS MOC‐31 is useful in separating metastatic adenocarcinoma from hepatocellular carcinoma in FNAB cell block material. Cancer (Cancer Cytopathol) 1999;87:295–8. © 1999 American Cancer Society.