Immunoreactivity of pleural malignant mesotheliomas to glutathione S-transferases

Malignant mesotheliomas show a highly variable aggressiveness, but it is difficult to predict the outcome in the individual case at the time of diagnosis. Glutathione S-transferases are detoxification enzymes that have been correlated with the prognosis in some tumours. We have therefore assessed the value of GST expression as a prognostic parameter in mesotheliomas. The reactivities to GST-pi, -alpha and -mu antibodies were studied in histological sections from altogether 88 cases. Most of them showed distinct cytoplasmic reactivity to one or more of the GST antibodies tested. This high prevalence is in good agreement with the low responsiveness of mesotheliomas to chemotherapy. However, there was no prognostic value in detecting GST immunoreactivity, and it gave no information of value for distinguishing between neoplastic and reactive mesothelium.