The clinicopathological significance of thymic epithelial markers expression in thymoma and thymic carcinoma

BACKGROUND: The classification of thymomas is based on the morphology of epithelial tumor cells and the proportion of lymphocytes. Type A thymomas are composed of the spindle or oval tumor epithelial cells. Tumor cells of B thymomas are epithelioid-shaped with increasing atypia. Type AB thymomas have the features of epithelial tumor cells of A and B thymomas. The diagnosis can be difficult because of the complex morphology. Some novel thymic epithelial markers have been reported in several preclinical studies, but they have not been applied to clinical practice. Here, we investigated the expression of 3 cortical and 3 medullary markers, which are thymoproteasome-specific subunit β5t (β5t), thymus-specific serine protease 16 (PRSS16), cathepsin V, autoimmune regulator (AIRE), CD40 and claudin-4. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry was used to analyze 53 cases of thymomas and thymic squamous cell carcinomas (TSCC), aiming to explore the expression of cortical and medullary epithelial markers and their correlation with histological classification, Masaoka-Koga stage, and prognosis. RESULTS: Our results found that for cortical epithelial markers the expression of β5t, PRSS16, and cathepsin V was higher in type AB and B thymomas than in micronodular thymoma with lymphoid stroma (MNT), and we observed a dramatic increase of β5t and PRSS16 expression in type AB compared to type A thymomas. In medullary epithelial markers, the expression of AIRE was higher in type A than in B3 thymomas. CD40 and β5t expression were associated with the Masaoka-Koga stage. High cathepsin V expression was related to a good prognosis and a longer progression-free survival. CONCLUSION: This is the first comprehensive analysis of the role of thymic cortical and medullary epithelial markers as biomarkers for differential diagnosis and prognosis in thymic tumors. Thymic medullary epithelial immunophenotype was found to exhibit in type A, MNT, and TSCC. Type B thymomas primarily exhibited a cortical epithelial immunophenotype. Type AB thymomas showed cortical, medullary, or mixed corticomedullary epithelial immunophenotype. Our results demonstrated that thymic cortical and medullary epithelial markers including β5t, PRSS16, cathepsin V, and AIRE could be used as ancillary markers in the diagnosis and prognosis of thymic epithelial tumors.