Expression of keratin 5 as a distinctive feature of epithelial and biphasic mesotheliomas. An immunohistochemical study using monoclonal antibody AE14.

In previous biochemical analyses, keratin 5 (Mr 58,000) has been detected in most mesotheliomas with epithelial component but not in pulmonary adenocarcinomas (Blobel et al., Am J Pathol 121: 235-247, 1985). In the present study, we have characterized a monoclonal antibody, AE14, as being selectively specific for keratin 5 (apart from the reactivity with certain hair proteins) as shown by immunoblotting of gel-electrophoretically separated proteins from various tissues. Immunohistochemical screening of a variety of normal human tissues, using immunoperoxidase microscopy on cryostat sections, revealed the binding of this antibody to the basal, immature cells of stratified squamous epithelia, to basal cells of pseudostratified epithelia, to some myoepithelial cells, thymic reticulum cells, certain pancreatic duct cells, as well as a variable subpopulation of mesothelial cells of the pleura and the peritoneum. In 12/13 epithelial and biphasic mesotheliomas of the pleura, heterogeneous but extended staining with antibody AE14 was seen whereas 21 pulmonary adenocarcinomas were negative or, in six of these cases, showed staining of only a few cells. Among carcinomas from other sites, colonic adenocarcinomas and renal cell carcinomas were negative whereas limited staining was found in some pancreatic adenocarcinomas. It is suggested that antibody AE14 may be useful, as a defined polypeptide-specific reagent, in the histologic distinction between mesotheliomas and most adenocarcinomas. Furthermore, the expression patterns of keratin 5 as detected by antibody AE14 in various normal and malignant epithelial tissues are discussed, particularly their relation to processes of squamous metaplasia and their indication of phenotypic tumor heterogeneity.