Skip to main content
  • AACR Publications
    • Cancer Discovery
    • Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention
    • Cancer Immunology Research
    • Cancer Prevention Research
    • Cancer Research
    • Clinical Cancer Research
    • Molecular Cancer Research
    • Molecular Cancer Therapeutics

  • Register
  • Log in
Advertisement

Main menu

  • Home
  • About
    • The Journal
    • AACR Journals
    • Subscriptions
    • Permissions and Reprints
    • Reviewing
  • Articles
    • OnlineFirst
    • Current Issue
    • Past Issues
    • Focus on Computer Resources
    • 75th Anniversary
    • Meeting Abstracts
  • For Authors
    • Information for Authors
    • Author Services
    • Best of: Author Profiles
    • Submit
  • Alerts
    • Table of Contents
    • OnlineFirst
    • Editors' Picks
    • Citations
    • Author/Keyword
  • News
    • Cancer Discovery News
  • AACR Publications
    • Cancer Discovery
    • Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention
    • Cancer Immunology Research
    • Cancer Prevention Research
    • Cancer Research
    • Clinical Cancer Research
    • Molecular Cancer Research
    • Molecular Cancer Therapeutics

User menu

  • Register
  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
Cancer Research
Cancer Research

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • About
    • The Journal
    • AACR Journals
    • Subscriptions
    • Permissions and Reprints
    • Reviewing
  • Articles
    • OnlineFirst
    • Current Issue
    • Past Issues
    • Focus on Computer Resources
    • 75th Anniversary
    • Meeting Abstracts
  • For Authors
    • Information for Authors
    • Author Services
    • Best of: Author Profiles
    • Submit
  • Alerts
    • Table of Contents
    • OnlineFirst
    • Editors' Picks
    • Citations
    • Author/Keyword
  • News
    • Cancer Discovery News
Perspective

Early B-Cell Differentiation in Merkel Cell Carcinomas: Clues to Cellular Ancestry

Axel zur Hausen, Dorit Rennspiess, Veronique Winnepenninckx, Ernst-Jan Speel and Anna Kordelia Kurz
Axel zur Hausen
Authors' Affiliations: Department of Pathology, GROW-School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands; and Department of Internal Medicine IV, University Hospital Aachen, Aachen, Germany
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Dorit Rennspiess
Authors' Affiliations: Department of Pathology, GROW-School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands; and Department of Internal Medicine IV, University Hospital Aachen, Aachen, Germany
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Veronique Winnepenninckx
Authors' Affiliations: Department of Pathology, GROW-School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands; and Department of Internal Medicine IV, University Hospital Aachen, Aachen, Germany
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Ernst-Jan Speel
Authors' Affiliations: Department of Pathology, GROW-School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands; and Department of Internal Medicine IV, University Hospital Aachen, Aachen, Germany
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Anna Kordelia Kurz
Authors' Affiliations: Department of Pathology, GROW-School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands; and Department of Internal Medicine IV, University Hospital Aachen, Aachen, Germany
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-13-0616 Published August 2013
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a highly malignant neuroendocrine nonmelanoma skin cancer, which is associated with the Merkel cell polyoma virus (MCPyV). Recently, expression of the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) and the paired box gene 5 (PAX 5) has been consistently reported in the majority of MCCs. We tested 21 MCCs for the expression of MCPyV, TdT, PAX5, IgG, IgM, IgA, kappa, and lambda by immunohistochemistry and assessed IgH and Igk rearrangement in all 21 MCCs. All of the MCCs revealed specific expression of PAX5 and 72.8% of the MCCs expressed TdT. In addition, most of the MCCs revealed specific expression of one or more Ig subclasses and kappa or lambda. One MCC did reveal monoclonal IgH and Igk rearrangement next to two other MCCs showing Igk rearrangement. As coexpression of TdT and PAX5 under physiologic circumstances is restricted to pro/pre- and pre-B cells we propose, on the basis of our results, that the cell of origin of MCCs is a pro/pre- or pre-B cell rather than the postmitotic Merkel cells. MCPyV infection and transformation of pro-/pre-B cells are likely to induce the expression of simple cytokeratins as has been shown for SV40 in other nonepithelial cells. This model of cellular ancestry of MCCs might impact therapy and possibly helps to understand why approximately 20% of MCCs are MCPyV-negative. Cancer Res; 73(16); 4982–7. ©2013 AACR.

  • Received February 27, 2013.
  • Accepted March 29, 2013.
  • ©2013 American Association for Cancer Research.
View Full Text
PreviousNext
Back to top
Cancer Research: 73 (16)
August 2013
Volume 73, Issue 16
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • About the Cover
  • Index by Author

Sign up for alerts

View this article with LENS

Open full page PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for sharing this Cancer Research article.

NOTE: We request your email address only to inform the recipient that it was you who recommended this article, and that it is not junk mail. We do not retain these email addresses.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Early B-Cell Differentiation in Merkel Cell Carcinomas: Clues to Cellular Ancestry
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from Cancer Research
(Your Name) thought you would be interested in this article in Cancer Research.
Citation Tools
Early B-Cell Differentiation in Merkel Cell Carcinomas: Clues to Cellular Ancestry
Axel zur Hausen, Dorit Rennspiess, Veronique Winnepenninckx, Ernst-Jan Speel and Anna Kordelia Kurz
Cancer Res August 15 2013 (73) (16) 4982-4987; DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-13-0616

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Early B-Cell Differentiation in Merkel Cell Carcinomas: Clues to Cellular Ancestry
Axel zur Hausen, Dorit Rennspiess, Veronique Winnepenninckx, Ernst-Jan Speel and Anna Kordelia Kurz
Cancer Res August 15 2013 (73) (16) 4982-4987; DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-13-0616
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Introduction
    • Materials and Methods
    • Results
    • Discussion
    • Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest
    • Authors' Contributions
    • References
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Advertisement

Related Articles

Cited By...

More in this TOC Section

  • CTC Clusters: The Present and Future
  • Modeling of Cancer Risk Must Consider More Than Mutations
  • Oncogenic Meiosis-like Functions
Show more Perspective
  • Home
  • Alerts
  • Feedback
Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn  YouTube  RSS

Articles

  • Online First
  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Meeting Abstracts

Info for

  • Authors
  • Subscribers
  • Advertisers
  • Librarians
  • Reviewers

About Cancer Research

  • About the Journal
  • Editorial Board
  • Permissions
  • Submit a Manuscript
AACR logo

Copyright © 2018 by the American Association for Cancer Research.

Cancer Research Online ISSN: 1538-7445
Cancer Research Print ISSN: 0008-5472
Journal of Cancer Research ISSN: 0099-7013
American Journal of Cancer ISSN: 0099-7374

Advertisement