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. 2023 Sep 8;11(9):2496.
doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11092496.

Usefulness of COL11A1 as a Prognostic Marker of Tumor Infiltration

Javier Freire  1 , Pilar García-Berbel  2 , Belén Caramelo  2 , Lucía García-Berbel  3 , Victor J Ovejero  4 , Nuria Cadenas  5 , Ainara Azueta  1 , Javier Gómez-Román  1
Affiliations

Usefulness of COL11A1 as a Prognostic Marker of Tumor Infiltration

Javier Freire et al. Biomedicines. .

Abstract

Background: Determining the infiltration of carcinomas is essential for the proper follow-up and treatment of cancer patients. However, it continues to be a diagnostic challenge for pathologists in multiple types of tumors. In previous studies (carried out in surgical specimens), the protein COL11A1 has been postulated as an infiltration marker mainly expressed in the extracellular matrix (ECM). We hypothesized that a differential expression of COL11A1 may exist in the peritumoral stroma of tumors that have acquired infiltrating properties and that it may be detected in the small biopsies usually available in normal clinical practice.

Material and methods: In our study, we performed immunohistochemical staining in more than 350 invasive and noninvasive small samples obtained via core needle biopsy (CNB), colonoscopy, or transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) of breast, colorectal, bladder, and ovarian cancer.

Results: Our results revealed that COL11A1 immunostaining had a sensitivity to classify the samples into infiltrative vs. noninfiltrative tumors of 94% (breast), 97% (colorectal), >90% (bladder), and 74% (ovarian); and a specificity of 97% (breast), 100% (colorectal), and >90% (bladder). In ovarian cancer, the negative predictive value (0.59) did not present improvement over the usual histopathological markers. In all samples tested, the cumulative sensitivity was 86% and the specificity 96% (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions: COL11A1-positive immunostaining in small biopsies of breast, colon, bladder and ovarian cancer is an accurate predictive marker of tumor infiltration that can be easily implemented in daily clinical practice.

Keywords: COL11A1; collagen XI alpha 1; tumor activated fibroblast; tumor metastasis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Differential COL11A1 expression in breast lesions. COL11A1 immunostaining (a) invasive ductal carcinoma, (b) in situ ductal carcinoma, (c) microinvasive ductal carcinoma for both COL11A1 and myoepithelial cell markers, and (d) in situ ductal carcinoma for both COL11A1 and myoepithelial cell markers. Hematoxylin and eosin, HE. Original magnification ×360.
Figure 2
Figure 2
COL11A1 expression in colonic neoplasia. (a) Colonic adenocarcinoma; (b) hyperplastic polyp. HE. Original magnification ×180, box ×360.
Figure 3
Figure 3
COL11A1 expression in colonic in situ carcinomas settled on adenomatous polyp. (a) With subsequent infiltration; (b) pure in-situ. HE. (c) Amplification of the immunopositive region of box A. Original magnification ×180, box small ×360, big ×600.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Immunostaining for COL11A1 in transurethral biopsy of urinary bladder. Immunostaining is observed in pT2 samples, while none of pTa or pT1 show expression. HE. Original magnification ×180, box ×360.
Figure 5
Figure 5
COL11A1 Immunostaining in ovarian carcinoma. (a) Negative mucinous cistoadenocarcinoma; (b) positive papilar carcinoma.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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