Use of Tissue and Tumour Markers in the Histological Diagnosis of Tumours

Abstract

Tissue and tumour markers may be of help in establishing the diagnosis of tumours. In this study I have evaluated the use of several tissue and tumour markers in the histological diagnosis of certain tumours. To be useful for the diagnosis of tumours, these markers should not only be tissue or tumour specific but they should also be stable under different conditions of cellular proliferation and after exposure to cancer chemotherapeutic agents. Therefore I have also studied the stability of 3 markers i.e. carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), keratin and melanoma associated antigen (MAA) in M21 melanoma cells with different rates of proliferation in vitro and after exposure to two commonly used anti-cancer drugs, i.e. metho-trexate (MTX) and adriamycin. This work has been divided into 4 parts: {i) evaluation of the usefulness of anti-keratin and anti-CEA antibodies in establishing the epithelial origin of mammary duct carcinomas (DC), their lymph node metastases and pulmonary, cutaneous and uterine cervical squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), {ii) evaluation of the usefulness of anti-myoglobin, anti-desmin and anti-skeletal muscle antibodies (ASMA) in the diagnosis of childhood rhabdomyosarcomas (RMS), (iii) evaluation of the usefulness of polyclonal and monoclonal anti-melanoma antibodies (AMA) in the diagnosis of tumours of melanocytic origin, and (iv) evaluation of the stability of CEA, keratin and MSA under different conditions of cellular proliferation and after their in vitro exposure to MTX and adriamycin.