SR-B1 and CD10 combined immunoprofile for differential diagnosis of metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma and clear cell carcinoma of the ovary

Both clear cell renal carcinoma (ccRCC) and clear cell carcinoma of the ovary (CCOC) have a clear cytoplasmic morphological feature, hence it is difficult to identify metastatic ccRCC and CCOC by morphology alone. At present, there are no effective immunohistochemical markers to distinguish between these two tumors. Studies have shown that the clear cytoplasm of ccRCC is mainly caused by cholesterol-rich lipids in the cytoplasm, while that of CCOC is due to the accumulation of cytoplasmic glycogen. Objective: to hypothesize that the scavenger receptor class B-type 1 (SR-B1) protein responsible for HDL cholesterol uptake may be differentially expressed in ccRCC and CCOC, and high CD10 expression in the renal tubular epithelium may assist in distinguishing between ccRCC and CCOC. Methods: effective immunohistochemical markers were applied in 90 cases of renal clear cell carcinoma and 31 cases of ovarian cancer to distinguish between the two types of tumors.Result: SR-B1 and CD10 expression is significantly higher in ccRCC than CCOC. Both SR-B1 and CD10 exhibited focal weak-medium intensity staining in CCOC, and their staining extent and intensity were significantly lower than ccRCC. The sensitivity and specificity of SR-B1 for identifying ccRCC were 74.4% and 83.9%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of CD10 for identifying CCOC were 93.3% and 80.6%, respectively. The combined SR-B1( +) CD10( +) immunoprofile supports the diagnosis of ccRCC with a specificity of 93.5%. The combined SR-B1(-) CD10(-) immunoprofile supports the diagnosis of CCOC with a specificity of 93.3%. Conclusions: our findings demonstrate that the combination of SR-B1 and CD10 immunoprofiling is a valuable tool for differential diagnosis of ccRCC and CCOC.