Retinal S-antigen immunoreactivity in medulloblastomas

Abstract

A series of 16 cerebellar medulloblastomas were studied immunohistochemically using a four-step immunoperoxidase (PAP) method and a monoclonal antibody (MAbA9-C6) which defines an epitope of the retinal S-antigen, a protein known to occur in retinal photoreceptor cells and pinealocytes of the pineal gland as well as in retinoblastomas, pineocytomas and pineoblastomas. Immunopositivity was demonstrated in a variable number of tumor cells in 50% of the cases. This finding may be an indication of a differentiation potential of medulloblastomas along the photoreceptor cell lineage. Alternatively, it may simply indicate the non-specificity of the retinal antigen in the neoplastic state.