External Quality Assessments of CD31 Immunoassays – the NordiQC experience

Michael Bzorek,Mogens Vyberg,Rasmus Røge,Søren Nielsen

doi:10.24238/13221-12-1-193

Abstract

Nordic Immunohistochemical Quality Control (NordiQC) performs proficiency testing for about 600 pathology laboratories in more than 50 countries. All general results are published on www.nordiqc.org. Over-all, about 30% of the staining results on circulated slides from tissue micro arrays have by an expert group been assessed as insufficient for diagnostic use. This paper describes the results from the two latest NordiQC runs for CD31. Out of 476 stains submitted, 30.5% were considered insufficient, mostly due to too weak or false negative staining reactions. The best results were obtained by use of mouse monoclonal antibody JC70A with an optimized protocol based on efficient heat induced epitope retrieval and a three-step polymer/multimer conjugate as visualization system. The mouse monoclonal antibody 1A10 gave unsatisfactory results in almost all cases.

Highlights

CD31 is a transmembrane glycoprotein, about 130 kDa, designated platelet-endothelium cell adhesion molecule (PECAM-1), belonging to the immunoglobulin super family and encoded by the PECAM-1 gene on chromosome 17 [1]
This paper describes the results from the two latest Nordic Immunohistochemical Quality Control (NordiQC) runs for CD31
The best results were obtained by use of mouse monoclonal antibody JC70A with an optimized protocol based on efficient heat induced epitope retrieval and a three-step polymer/multimer conjugate as visualization system

Summary

Introduction

CD31 is a transmembrane glycoprotein, about 130 kDa, designated platelet-endothelium cell adhesion molecule (PECAM-1), belonging to the immunoglobulin super family and encoded by the PECAM-1 gene on chromosome 17 [1]. CD31 is expressed in the vast majority of vascular lesions, such as haemangioma, angiofibroma, and angiosarcoma, and in most cases of Kaposi sarcoma and epithelioid hemangioendothelioma [6] In some tumours such as littoral cell angioma, identification of CD31 may be mandatory for a correct diagnosis. CD31 assays are mostly applied in order to identify vascular ECs in various lesions (e.g., to visualize metastatic spread in lymphatic and blood vessels), assess angiogenesis (vascular density) in neoplasms and verify endothelial neoplasms. For these purposes, CD31 is often used in panels, which may include other endothelial markers like ERG, CD34, Fli-1 and Podoplanin (D2-40)[8]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion