Research Report
Copyright ©2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 14, 2014; 20(14): 4011-4016
Published online Apr 14, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i14.4011
Immunohistochemical assessment of NY-ESO-1 expression in esophageal adenocarcinoma resection specimens
Stephen J Hayes, Keng Ngee Hng, Peter Clark, Fiona Thistlethwaite, Robert E Hawkins, Yeng Ang
Stephen J Hayes, Peter Clark, Department of Histopathology, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, Salford M6 8HD, United Kingdom
Stephen J Hayes, Yeng Ang, Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom
Keng Ngee Hng, Yeng Ang, Department of Gastroenterology, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, Salford M6 8HD, United Kingdom
Fiona Thistlethwaite, Department of Medical Oncology, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom
Robert E Hawkins, Department of Medical Oncology, Paterson Institute of Cancer Research, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Hayes SJ, Thistlethwaite F, Hawkins RE and Ang Y designed research; Hayes SJ, Hng KN and Clark P performed research; Hayes SJ, Hng KN, Clark P, Thistlethwaite F, Hawkins RE and Ang Y analyzed data and wrote the paper.
Correspondence to: Dr. Stephen J Hayes, Department of Histopathology, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, Stott Lane, Salford M6 8HD, United Kingdom. stephen.hayes@srft.nhs.uk
Telephone: +44-161-2065012 Fax: +44-161-2064654
Received: February 27, 2013
Revised: May 10, 2013
Accepted: July 4, 2013
Published online: April 14, 2014
Processing time: 411 Days and 8.4 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: NY-ESO-1 is a cancer-testis antigen of particular interest, as it displays exceptional immunogenicity - hence, it is an attractive candidate for cancer vaccine therapy. To our knowledge, we have demonstrated for the first time, using immunohistochemistry, strong and diffuse nuclear and cytoplasmic expression for NY-ESO-1 in a cohort of esophageal adenocarcinoma cases. We have also demonstrated NY-ESO-1 expression in normal tissues other than germ cells, albeit as dot-positivity, indicating shared protein expression and association between primitive germ cells and somatic cells. We further relate our findings to proposed locations of stem cells in the esophagus and large bowel.