Korean J Pathol.  2001 Jun;35(3):201-205.

The Increased Expression and Diagnostic Usefulness of CD56 Antigen in Paraffin Embedded Plasma Cell Neoplasm

• Kim SH
• Park CS
• Choi EY
• Kang HW
• Park SH
• Chung DH

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The natural killer cell antigen CD56 (NCAM) is a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily and is expressed on neurons, astrocytes, and Schwann cells. Recently, it has been reported that CD56 expression is detected on plasma cells of multiple myeloma by flow cytometry. METHOD: In this study, to test the diagnostic usefulness of the anti-CD56 antibody for plasma cell neoplasm on paraffin-embedded materials, we performed immunohistochemical staining of samples from 19 patients with plasma cell neoplasms. These cases included 14 cases of multiple myeloma, 3 cases of solitary plasmacytoma of the bone, and two cases of extramedullary plasmacytoma.
RESULTS
The neoplastic plasma cells from 68 % of the patients with plasma cell neoplasms expressed CD56 highly. CD56 was expressed in all three cases of solitary plasmacytoma of the bone and one of two extramedullary plasmacytoma, and nine out of 14 multiple myeloma cases. In contrast, reactive plasma cells from the 18 patients with miscellaneous lesions were completely negative for CD56.
CONCLUSIONS
CD56 is aberrantly expressed on the neoplastic plasma cells, and it may be used as a useful marker for the diagnosis of plasma cell neoplasms in paraffin-embedded tissues.

Keyword

CD56; Plasma cell; Multiple myeloma; Plasmacytoma; Immunohistochemistry

MeSH Terms

Antigens, CD56*
Astrocytes
Diagnosis
Flow Cytometry
Humans
Immunoglobulins
Immunohistochemistry
Killer Cells, Natural
Multiple Myeloma
Neoplasms, Plasma Cell*
Neurons
Paraffin*
Plasma Cells*
Plasma*
Plasmacytoma
Schwann Cells
Antigens, CD56
Immunoglobulins
Paraffin