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Expression of occludin, a tight-junction-associated protein, in human lung carcinomas

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Abstract

Occludin is a tight-junction-associated transmembrane protein, and previous observations suggested that occludin might play a crucial role in the formation and maintenance of organized tubular structures. Based on these observations, we explored the possible role of occludin immunostaining in the diagnosis of lung carcinomas. A total of 68 lung carcinomas and surrounding normal lung tissues were studied. A formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded section from each tumor was stained with a new anti-occludin monoclonal antibody raised in our laboratory. In normal lung tissues, the anti-occludin antibody strongly stained the apicoluminal borders of the bronchial/bronchiolar epithelia and bronchial glands as a dot or short line. The antibody also stained the intercellular borders of alveolar epithelia. In cancer cells that faced lumina of all adenocarcinomas, regardless of grade, including bronchioloalveolar carcinomas, occludin showed an expression pattern identical to that of the normal bronchial and alveolar epithelia. Occludin reactivity was not noted in any cases of squamous cell carcinoma, large cell carcinoma, small cell carcinoma, or large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma. The results of the present study suggest that occludin can serve as an immunohistochemical indicator of the “true” glandular differentiation that forms tubulo-papillary structures in human lung carcinoma tissues.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by grants-in-aids from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan, and from the Smoking Research Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, S. 1, W.17, Chuo-ku, 060-8556, Sapporo , Japan

    Hirotoshi Tobioka, Yuichi Tokunaga, Hiroshi Isomura & Norimasa Sawada

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan

    Yasuo Kokai

  3. Department of Pathology, Obihiro Kosei General Hospital, Obihiro, Japan

    Jun Yamaguchi

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  1. Hirotoshi Tobioka
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  2. Yuichi Tokunaga
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  3. Hiroshi Isomura
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  4. Yasuo Kokai
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  5. Jun Yamaguchi
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  6. Norimasa Sawada
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Correspondence to Hirotoshi Tobioka.

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Tobioka, H., Tokunaga, Y., Isomura, H. et al. Expression of occludin, a tight-junction-associated protein, in human lung carcinomas. Virchows Arch 445, 472–476 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-004-1054-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-004-1054-9

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