HSD3B1 Is a Specific Trophoblast-Associated Marker Not Expressed in a Wide Spectrum of Tumors
Yuh-Yu Chou, MD, *; Yung-Ming Jeng, MD, PhD,# and Tsui-Lien Mao, MD#
Objective: Hydroxyl-8-5-steroid dehydrogenase (HSD3B1) is an enzyme that catalyzes the oxidative conversion of 8-5-3 B-hydroxyl steroids to the 8-4-3-keto configuration and is involved in steroid hormone synthesis. It has been shown to be expressed in normal trophoblastic tissue and benign and neoplastic trophoblastic lesions. HSD3B1 has not been detected in a large number of lung, breast, and uterine carcinomas; however, its ex- pression has not been studied in a wide variety of other nontrophoblastic neoplasms. To test if HSD3B1 is highly specific for normal trophoblasts and trophoblast-associated le- sions, we examined the expression of HSD3B1 in a wide spectrum of tumors.
Methods: Tissue microarrays containing 473 carcinomas from the lung, breast, ovary, uterus, liver, pancreas, stomach, and colon; 32 ovarian granulose cell tumors; and 12 ad- renocortical adenomas were studied by immunohistochemistry using a commercially avail- able monoclonal antibody, HSD3B1. One tissue microarray containing normal tissues was also included. Positive staining of intermediate trophoblasts and syncytiotrophoblasts in normal placental tissue served as a positive control.
Results: Normal tissues and tumors from the various sites were all negative for HSD3B1 except for 2 adrenocortical adenomas with weak focal immunoreactivity.
Conclusions: Our study further confirmed that HSD3B1 is a highly specific trophoblast- associated marker that can be used in the distinction of trophoblastic tumorlike lesions and tumors from nontrophoblastic lesions and tumors.
Key Words: Trophoblast, HSD3B1, Immunohistochemistry
Received October 19, 2012, and in revised form November 14, 2012. Accepted for publication November 18, 2012. (Int J Gynecol Cancer 2013;23: 343-347)
*Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Shin-Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital; }Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University; and ¿Department of Pathology, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. Address correspondence and reprint requests to
Tsui-Lien Mao, MD, Department of Pathology, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine,
National Taiwan University, 7 Chung-Shan South Rd, Taipei, Taiwan. E-mail: tlmao@ntu.edu.tw.
This study was supported by a grant from the NTUH (99-S1363 to T .- L.M.).
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Copyright @ 2013 by IGCS and ESGO ISSN: 1048-891X
DOI: 10.1097/IGC.0b013e31827eaa78
H SD3B (3ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase) is required for the biosynthesis of steroid hormones.1 Among the isoforms, hydroxyl-C-5-steroid dehydrogenase (HSD3B1) is abundantly expressed in the human placenta and is involved in the biosynthesis of progesterone for the maintenance of pregnancy.2,3 Polymorphism of the HSD3B1 gene has been associated with prostate cancer susceptibility,4 an increased risk of benign prostate hyperplasia,5 and essential hyperten- sion.6 Immunohistochemically, it has been found to be expressed in normal trophoblastic tissue and benign and neoplastic trophoblastic lesions, but not in carcinomas from the lung, breast, uterine endometrium, or cervix,7 thus serving as a sensitive and specific marker for the diagnosis of tro- phoblastic lesions and tumors. However, the expression of HSD3B1 in carcinomas from sites other than the lung, breast,
and uterus is largely unknown. To verify the specificity of HSD3B1, we examined its expression in carcinomas from various sites including the lung, breast, ovary, uterine cervix, liver, pancreas, stomach, colon, pancreas, kidney, and prostate and in tumors with potential synthesis of steroid hormones, including ovarian granulosa cell tumors and adrenocortical adenomas.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Tissue Samples
Paraffin tissues of carcinomas from various sites were constructed onto tissue microarrays (TMAs). A total of 10 TMAs containing 473 carcinomas from the lung (n=54), breast (n=39), ovary (n=52), uterine cervix (n=38), liver (n=85), pancreas (n = 29), stomach (n = 47), colon (n = 52), kidney (n=45), and prostate (n = 32) and 1 TMA containing 32 ovarian granulosa cell tumors and 12 adrenocortical adenomas were included in this study (Table 1). One TMA containing normal tissues from the cerebrum, oral tonsil, major salivary gland, thyroid, gastrointestinal tract, pancreas, spleen, adrenal gland, testis, ovary, endometrium, and placenta was also included. All cases were anonymized, and the use of archival material was approved by the institutional review board.
| Tumor | Number |
|---|---|
| Hepatocellular carcinoma | 54 |
| Cholangiocarcinoma | 31 |
| Lung | |
| Squamous cell carcinoma | 14 |
| Adenocarcinoma | 36 |
| Adenosquamous carcinoma | 2 |
| Small cell carcinoma | 1 |
| Lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma | 1 |
| Renal cell carcinoma | 45 |
| Breast invasive ductal carcinoma | 39 |
| Ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma* | 52 |
| Uterine cervix | |
| Squamous cell carcinoma | 33 |
| Adenocarcinoma | 4 |
| Adenosquamous carcinoma | 1 |
| Prostatic adenocarcinoma | 32 |
| Colonic adenocarcinomat | 52 |
| Gastric adenocarcinoma | 47 |
| Pancreatic adenocarcinoma | 29 |
| Ovarian granulose cell tumor | 32 |
| Adrenocortical adenoma | 12 |
| Total | 517 |
*Including 4 metastatic tumors in the peritoneum. ¡Including 2 metastatic tumors in the lung.
Immunohistochemistry
Immunohistochemistry was carried out using a mouse monoclonal antibody against HSD3B1 (clone 3C11-D4; Abnova Corporation, Taipei, Taiwan). The specificity of the antibody was proved by the presence of a single band on a Western blot in our previous study.7 Briefly, the deparaffinized sec- tions were heated in 0.01 M citric buffer (pH 6.0) in an autoclave at 120℃ for 10 minutes. After incubation with the primary antibody at 4℃ overnight, a positive reaction was detected by the En Vision+System (DAKO, Carpinteria, CA) and developed with 3,3-diaminobenidine.
The immunostains were examined according to the cytoplasmic intensity, and the percentages of stained cells were determined independently by 2 pathologists. The stain- ing intensity was scored based on the cytoplasmic staining ranging from 0 to 4+, and the percentage of stained cells from 0% to 100% was recorded. An H score of (percentage score) x (intensity score + 1) was used as in our previous study.7 Because most tumors are negative for HSD3B1, for practical analysis, tissues with weak, moderate, or strong staining were lumped together as the HSD3B1-positive group and compared with HSD3B1-negative tissues. Normal pla- centa served as a positive control.
RESULTS
Expression of HSD3B1 in Normal Tissues
HSD3B1 was strongly expressed in the syncytiotropho- blasts and intermediate trophoblasts in the implantation site and chorion laeve of normal placentas (Fig. 1). Positive staining was noted in the cytoplasm of the trophoblasts but not in the surrounding stromal cells. The picture is the same as in our previous study.7 All the normal tissues from the cerebrum, oral tonsil, major salivary gland, thyroid, gastrointestinal tract, pancreas, spleen, adrenal gland, testis, endometrium, and ovary were negative for HSD3B1.
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Expression of HSD3B1 in Tumors
All 473 carcinomas from the lung, breast, ovary, uterine cervix, liver, pancreas, stomach, colon, kidney, and prostate showed negative reactivity for HSD3B1 (Figs. 2A-D). Al- though ovarian granulosa cell tumors and adrenocortical ade- nomas are capable of producing steroid hormones, all 32 granulosa cell tumors were negative. Most of the adreno- cortical adenomas were also negative except for two that showed weak focal immunoreactivity, with much lower H scores as compared with those of normal placentas and trophoblastic lesions from our previous study.”
DISCUSSION
HSD3B encoded by the HSD3B gene family at 1p13 is required for the biosynthesis of all active steroid hor- mones. Several isoforms have been identified in humans. HSD3B1 is the only isoform expressed in the placenta. It plays a major role in the biosynthesis of progesterone and is necessary for the maintenance of pregnancy.2,3 Our previous investigation revealed that HSD3B1 is a specific trophoblas- tic marker that is highly expressed in syncytiotrophoblasts and intermediate trophoblasts in the implantation site and the chorion laeve, variably expressed in the intermediate tro- phoblasts in the trophoblastic column, and undetectable in cytotrophoblasts. Only 3 of 319 nontrophoblastic carcinomas
from the uterus, lung, and breast showed focal and weak immunoreactivity.7 In this study, we collected a much wider variety of nontrophoblastic tumors and studied the expres- sion of HSD3B1. We found all 473 nontrophoblastic carci- nomas and 12 normal tissues did not react with anti-HSD3B1 antibody. Although ovarian granulosa cell tumors and adre- nocortical carcinomas are capable of synthesizing steroid hormones, only 2 adrenocortical adenomas showed weak stain- ing. Among the HSD isoforms, HSD3B2 but not HSD3B1 is expressed in normal ovaries and adrenal glands. Hence, the negative immunoreactivity of ovaries, adrenal glands, gran- ulosa cell tumors, and adrenocortical adenomas to HSD3B1 in this study suggests that the anti-HSD3B1 antibody we ap- plied is highly specific and does not cross-react with HSD3B2.
In addition to molar gestation, trophoblast-associated lesions include tumorlike lesions, such as exaggerated placental sites and placental site nodules (PSNs), and tumors such as placental site trophoblastic tumors (PSTTs), epithelioid tro- phoblastic tumors (ETTs), and choriocarcinomas.8 These tro- phoblastic tumorlike lesions and trophoblastic tumors can be morphologically similar to other nonneoplastic lesions and carcinomas. Furthermore, because of their relatively low inci- dence, recognizing them as trophoblastic lesions and making a correct diagnosis can sometimes be difficult. Thus, a specific marker that can demonstrate most types of trophoblastic cells and is not expressed in other types of tissues and tumors is
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important. As an extension of our previous study, we showed that HSD3B1 is not expressed in a variety of normal and neoplastic lesions, confirming its high specificity. HSD3B1 shows restricted expression in trophoblasts, unlike other com- monly used trophoblastic markers such as ß-human chorionic gonadotropin, human placental lactogen, placental alkaline phosphatase, melanoma cell adhesion molecule (CD146), human leukocyte antigen G,9 and p63, which either are expressed only in a subtype of trophoblasts or are not specific for trophoblasts and can be expressed in other various nontrophoblastic lesions. Thus, our study further supports that HSD3B1 is superior to other commercially available tropho- blast antibodies in distinguishing trophoblastic tumorlike lesions or tumors from nontrophoblastic lesions or carcinomas because it is expressed in virtually all types of trophoblastic tumorlike lesions and trophoblastic tumors. Moreover, HSD3B1 is highly specific and not expressed or only weakly expressed in other nontrophoblastic lesions and carcinomas.
Primary nongestational choriocarcinomas have been reported in the lung,10 uterine cervix,11 stomach,12 and liver.13 Besides choriocarcinoma, other trophoblastic tumors includ- ing ETT and PSTT may metastasize to sites such as the lung, liver, brain, and spine. 14,15 On rare occasions, they may pres- ent with metastatic disease before the primary trophoblastic tumor is diagnosed. Furthermore, ETT has been reported pri- marily in extrauterine sites.16,17 In the uterus, ETT and PSTT may present in the lower uterine segment or cervix, simulat- ing cervical cancer. The characteristic dimorphic trophoblas- tic population with marked hemorrhage in choriocarcinomas is not hard to identify as long as the clinician is familiar with this tumor. However, choriocarcinomas may occasionally contain attenuated syncytiotrophoblasts, whereas mononu- cleate trophoblasts are the predominant population. Further- more, the monomorphic population of tumor cells in sheets in ETT and PSTT can be very similar to poorly differentiated carcinomas. These trophoblastic tumors are epithelioid in morphology and positive for epithelial markers. Without aware- ness of their trophoblastic nature, a correct diagnosis and proper treatment cannot be rendered. Immunohistochemical study using a specific HSD3B1 antibody is of great help in these conditions.
A stepwise immunohistochemical algorithm called a trophogram using a panel of commercially available anti- bodies in the diagnosis of lesions suspected to be of tro- phoblastic origin is suggested.18 In this 3-tiered approach, HSD3B1 appears to be the first-line antibody to be used because of its specificity and sensitivity to all types of tro- phoblastic tumorlike lesions and tumors. Once a lesion is confirmed to be trophoblastic in nature, ß-human chorionic gonadotropin, p63, and human placental lactogen can be ap- plied to classify the lesion into a choriocarcinoma, a lesion with implantation site intermediate trophoblasts, or a lesion with chorionic-type intermediate trophoblasts. Ki-67 is fur- ther utilized to differentiate an exaggerated placental site from a PSTT and Ki-67 plus cyclin E to differentiate a PSN from an ETT. The sequence of application of these antibodies is im- portant because p63, cyclin E, and Ki-67 are useful only in the context of a lesion confirmed to be trophoblastic but cannot be applied in distinguishing nontrophoblastic lesions. The
importance of HSD3B1 in the first setting in this algorithm cannot be overemphasized.
In summary, our study demonstrated that HSD3B1 is a highly specific trophoblast-associated marker that can be used in the distinction of trophoblastic tumorlike lesions and tumors from nontrophoblastic lesions and tumors. The correct diag- nosis of trophoblastic tumors especially at sites outside the uterus is of paramount importance for proper treatment and management of patients.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank Dr Wilber Huang (Abnova Corpo- ration) for technical support of tissue microarray construction.
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