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Expression of  -Crystallin in Retinoblastoma
Satoru Kase, MD;
Jignesh G. Parikh, MD;
Narsing A. Rao, MD
Arch Ophthalmol. 2009;127(2):187-192.
Objective To examine the expression of  -crystallin, a small heat-shock protein family, and apoptosis in retinal neoplastic cells.
Methods Thirteen enucleated globes were included in this study, 1 with retinocytoma and 12 with retinoblastoma. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue sections were processed for immunohistochemistry with -crystallin antibodies. Apoptotic cells were detected using the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) method.
Results In the retinocytoma, A-crystallin was expressed in the cytoplasm of all tumor cells, whereas B-crystallin immunoreactivity was only weakly positive. Apoptotic cells were rarely noted in retinocytoma cells; the apoptotic index was 0.29. Examination of the retinoblastoma globes revealed 6 cases (50%) that were strongly positive for A-crystallin. The mean (SD) apoptotic indices in the strongly and weakly positive cases were 3.55 (2.61) and 7.50 (2.61), respectively. The apoptotic index was significantly higher in those cases that were weakly positive for A-crystallin than in those that were strongly positive (P < .05). No correlation was observed between apoptotic index and B-crystallin immunoreactivity, although 50% of retinoblastomas were strongly positive for B-crystallin.
Conclusions The A- and B-crystallins are expressed in retinoblastomas, and A-crystallin expression may prevent apoptosis of neoplastic cells.
Clinical Relevance Suppression of A-crystallin may be useful in controlling tumor growth.
Author Affiliations: Doheny Eye Institute, Doheny Vision Research Center 211 (Drs Kase, Parikh, and Rao) and the Departments of Ophthalmology and Pathology, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles (Dr Rao).
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