A diagnostic immunohistochemical panel for yolk sac (primitive endodermal) tumours based on an immunohistochemical comparison with the human yolk sac

Abstract

CPs reproduce the immunophenotype of HYS and early endoderm with variable expression of both AFP and markers of early gut or hepatic differentiation. SGPs with intestinal differentiation often have incomplete immunophenotypes. A differential diagnosis panel, including both markers of pluripotentiality (SALL4 and/or LIN28) and endoderm (AFP, GPC3 and villin), is proposed. It identifies overlapping multidifferentiation of primitive and somatic immunophenotypes, supporting the recently proposed term of primitive endodermal tumours.