| Research Abstract |
Immunoreactivities in 25 cases of prostatic adenocarcinoma and 10 normal/hyperplastic prostates were investigated in methacarn-fixed, paraffin-embedded serial sections using a panel of nine anti-keratin monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) ; 34betaE12, CK8.12,312C8-1, CK4.62, RPN1165, RPN1162,35betaH11, CK5, M20, and one of anti-actin mAb, HHF35. In normal/hyperplastic prostates, RPN1162,35betaH11, CK5, M20 stained luminal cells without staining basal cells, and 34betaE12, CK8.12,312C8-1 stained basal cells but not luminal cells. Other mAbs, CK4.62 and RPN1165, stained basal cells as well as luminal cells. All of the mAbs labeling luminal cells stained cancer with variable frequencies in a manner unrelated to the grade of tumor differentiation. Of the prostate cancer cases 92% were scored positive with M20,84% with 35betaH11,80% with CK5,68% with CK4.62,60% with RPN1165 and 4% with RPN1162. However, basal cell-specific keratin labelled with 34betaE12, CK8.12,312C8-1 were totally negative in the cancer cells. HHF35 showed no labelling in normal, hyperplastic or neoplastic epithelial cells of the prostate. Our findings indicate that the major part of the cells of prostatic adenocarcinoma have keratin phenotypes similar to luminal cells but not basal cells, and that no myoepithelial differentiation can be detected in epithelial cell of the prostate. Thus, mAbs for keratins facilitate the indentification of epithelial cell phenotypes in normal, benign and malignant condition of the prostate.
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