CD10 is a diagnostic and prognostic marker in renal malignancies

To determine the diagnostic and prognostic value of CD10 immunoreactivity in renal cell carcinomas (RCCs) and transitional cell carcinomas (TCCs).

CD10 expression was investigated in primary (n = 180) and metastatic (n = 58) RCCs and upper urinary tract TCCs (n = 53) using a tissue microarray technique. One hundred and fifty-four of 172 (90%) evaluable primary and 48/56 (86%) evaluable metastatic RCCs expressed CD10. Extensive immunoreactivity (positivity of >50% cancer cells) decreased with rising tumour grade in conventional RCCs [G1/G2 72/81 (89%), G3/G4 33/48 (69%); P = 0.009]. Chromophobe RCCs showed a significantly lower overall and extensive immunoreactivity compared with conventional tumours (P < 0.001). In papillary RCCs immunoreactivity of more than 10% of cancer cells for CD10 was seen more often in type 2 (7/8, 88%) compared with type 1 (5/12, 42%; P =0.054) tumours. In conventional RCCs, pure apical membranous staining was associated with low tumour stage (P = 0.003), low grade (P = 0.004) and improved prognosis on univariate analysis (P = 0.031). TCCs were less frequently stained (51%). Extensive staining, however, was associated with high-stage tumours (P = 0.024), high-grade (P = 0.073) tumours, and was associated with shorter disease-free survival in univariate analysis (P = 0.003).

CD10 proved to be an additional marker for renal malignancies with predominantly diagnostic potential.