Microarrays Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Microarrays, including details on experiments, designs, statistics, analysis, software.

Pax-5 immunoexpression in various types of benign and malignant tumours: a high-throughput tissue microarray analysis.

Mhawech-Fauceglia P, Saxena R, Zhang S, Terracciano L, Sauter G, Chadhuri A, Herrmann FR, Penetrante R

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York 14263, USA. pmhawech1@yahoo.com

BACKGROUND: Pax-5 belongs to the Pax gene family transcription factors that play an important role in organogenesis and in B cell ontogeny. It is expressed in B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (B-NHL), Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) and neuroendocrine carcinomas. However, its expression in other tumour types is not fully explored. Aims and methods: To determine Pax-5 expression in other tumour types, immunohistochemistry was performed on 3758 benign and malignant tumours using multiple tumour microarrays, as well as on whole sections. RESULTS: Pax-5 was expressed in 108/118 (91.5%) B-NHLs, in 60/70 (85.7%) HLs and in 0/7 T cell lymphomas. In addition, Pax-5 was seen in 24/34 (70.6%) Merkel cell carcinomas, 42/53 (79.2%) small cell carcinomas, 1/164 (0.6%) breast carcinomas, 2/204 (1%) endometrial adenocarcinomas and 1/452 (0.2%) urothelial carcinoma of the bladder. CONCLUSION: Despite its expression in a small subset of malignancies of epithelial origin, Pax-5 is still a good and reliable immunomarker in diagnosing B-NHL, HL and neuroendocrine carcinomas.

Published 11 June 2007 in J Clin Pathol, 60(6): 709-14.
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