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Chordomas—ultrastructure and immunohistochemistry: a report based on the examination of six cases
Author(s) -
RUTHERFOORD G.S.,
DAVIES A.G.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
histopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.626
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1365-2559
pISSN - 0309-0167
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2559.1987.tb01882.x
Subject(s) - cytokeratin , pathology , immunohistochemistry , monoclonal antibody , ultrastructure , biology , differential diagnosis , immunocytochemistry , carcinoma , electron microscope , antibody , medicine , immunology , physics , optics
Six chordomas (three classic and three chondroid) were examined ultrastructurally and with a panel of monoclonal antibodies. The three classic tumours showed the presence of desmosomes and intermediate filaments on electron microscopy, findings which gave a direct positive correlation when the tumours were stained with monoclonal antibodies against low molecular weight cytokeratin proteins. These results suggest that chordomas are essentially epithelial neoplasms and underline the fact that monoclonal antibodies to cytokeratins cannot be used in the differential diagnosis of classic chordoma vs carcinoma. Furthermore, the epithelial characteristics are lost as the tumour undergoes chondroid differentiation.