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Published on: March 13, 2013
CD138: A Potential Novel Diagnostic Marker for Cellular Neurothekeoma
Sarah Williamson1, Arlene Rosenberg1,2, Sarmad Jassim2
1Department of Dermatology, MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Background:
We incidentally observed CD138 (syndecan-1) expression in a cellular neurothekeoma (CNT) and sought to investigate whether this is a consistent finding in these tumors.
Methods:
We evaluated a series of 20 skin biopsy specimens diagnosed as CNT for CD138 immunohistochemical staining in comparison to the more traditional CNT immunohistochemical stains, NKI/C3 and MITF. Control cases of xanthogranuloma (XG), dermal Spitz nevi, and epithelioid fibrous histiocytomas (EFH) were included based on similar histopathologic morphology.
Results:
CD138 expression in a membranous and reticulated extracellular pattern was observed in 95% of CNT cases evaluated. NKI/C3 was expressed in 83% of CNT, and MITF in 72%. Of the control cases, 10% of XG, 10% of dermal Spitz nevi, and 17% of EFH expressed CD138.
Conclusions:
Our data suggest that CD138 may be a useful adjunctive marker in the diagnosis of CNT, particularly when utilized in a panel with other established markers such as NKI/C3 and MITF.
