Intracellular TCR-signaling pathway: novel markers for lymphoma diagnosis and potential therapeutic targets

Am J Surg Pathol. 2014 Oct;38(10):1349-59. doi: 10.1097/PAS.0000000000000309.

Abstract

Despite the immunologic functions of T-cell receptor signaling molecules being extensively investigated, their potential as immunohistochemical markers has been poorly explored. With this background, we evaluated the expression of 5 intracellular proteins-GADS, DOK2, SKAP55, ITK, and PKCα-involved in T-cell receptor signaling in normal and neoplastic hematologic tissue samples, using antibodies raised against fixation-resistant epitopes of the 5 molecules. All 5 antibodies were associated with normal T-cell differentiation. GADS, DOK2, SKAP55, and ITK turned out to be T-cell lineage-specific markers in the setting of lymphoid and myeloid precursor neoplasms but showed differential expression in peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) subtypes, being detected in PTCL/not otherwise specified (NOS) and angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma but negative in anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). Peripheral B-cell lymphomas were consistently negative for ITK, with occasional cases showing expression of DOK2 and SKAP55, and a proportion (47%) of hairy cell leukemias were GADS. Notably, PKCα highlighted a defective antigen in both PTCL/NOS (6%) and angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (10%), mostly negative in ALCL, and was aberrantly expressed in classical Hodgkin lymphoma (65%), Burkitt lymphoma (48%), and plasma cell myeloma (48%). In conclusion, all five molecules evaluated play a role in T-cell differentiation in normal and neoplastic tissues. They can be applied confidently to routine sections contributing primarily to assignment of T-lineage differentiation in the setting of hematopoietic precursor neoplasms (GADS/DOK2/SKAP55/ITK) and for the differential diagnosis between ALCL and PTCL/NOS (GADS/DOK2/SKAP55/ITK) or classical Hodgkin lymphoma (PKCα). Finally, association with specific tumor subtypes may have therapeutic potential.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / analysis
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / analysis*
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / genetics
  • Biopsy
  • Cell Differentiation
  • Cell Lineage
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Europe
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Lymphoma / chemistry*
  • Lymphoma / genetics
  • Lymphoma / immunology
  • Lymphoma / pathology
  • Lymphoma / therapy
  • Phosphoproteins / analysis
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Prognosis
  • Protein Kinase C-alpha / analysis
  • Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / analysis
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / analysis*
  • Signal Transduction*
  • Washington

Substances

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing
  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • DOK2 protein, human
  • GRAP2 protein, human
  • Phosphoproteins
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell
  • SKAP1 protein, human
  • Protein-Tyrosine Kinases
  • emt protein-tyrosine kinase
  • PRKCA protein, human
  • Protein Kinase C-alpha