Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 17, 2026
Generation and Expansion of Primary, Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Tumor Lines
Published on: April 21, 2022
Heparanase expression: a potential ancillary diagnostic tool for distinguishing between malignant cells and reactive
V Doviner1, B Maly, T Reinhartz
1Department of Pathology, Hadassah-Hebrew University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel.
Objective:
Heparanase, an endoglycosidase that cleaves heparan sulphate, is frequently expressed in carcinomas and was suggested to play a role in cell invasion and metastasis. We investigated whether heparanase expression may serve as a reliable marker to discriminate benign mesothelial cells from malignant cells shed into body cavities.
Methods And Results:
Cytological smears of effusions from 51 hospitalized patients were immunostained for heparanase. Strong immunoreactivity was noted in 35 of 40 (88%) carcinoma samples and in all three malignant mesothelioma cases. Only rare (<3%) reactive mesothelial cells were noted showing a faint negligible staining. Specificity was 100%, sensitivity 88%, and positive and negative predictive values were 100% and 89% respectively.
Conclusions:
Our results suggest that heparanase may be of value as a complementary component in a diagnostic panel of markers, contributing to its reliability and accuracy.
