@article {Ramburan44, author = {A Ramburan and F Oladiran and C Smith and G P Hadley and D Govender}, title = {Microsatellite analysis of the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene and immunoexpression of β~catenin in nephroblastoma: a study including 83 cases treated with preoperative chemotherapy}, volume = {58}, number = {1}, pages = {44--50}, year = {2005}, doi = {10.1136/jcp.2004.019752}, publisher = {BMJ Publishing Group}, abstract = {Aims: To determine whether microsatellite mutations of the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene have pathological or prognostic significance in nephroblastomas and to correlate APC alterations with β~catenin immunoexpression. Methods: One hundred nephroblastomas were analysed, 83 of which received preoperative chemotherapy. Normal and tumour DNA was isolated using standard proteinase K digestion and phenol/chloroform extraction from paraffin wax embedded tissue. Polymerase chain reaction using four APC microsatellite markers{\textemdash}D5S210, D5S299, D5S82, and D5S346{\textemdash}was performed and the products analysed. Immunohistochemistry was performed using the LSAB kit with diaminobenzidine as chromogen. Results were correlated with clinicopathological data using the χ2 test. Results: Allelic imbalance/loss of heterozygosity was more frequent than microsatellite instability, with 30\% of cases showing allelic imbalance/ loss of heterozygosity and 16\% showing microsatellite instability. Although there was a significant correlation between the results for individual markers and the clinicopathological data, the overall results do not support a prognostic role for APC in nephroblastoma. Expression of β~catenin was seen in 93\% of cases. Staining was predominantly membranous, with epithelium, blastema, and stroma being immunoreactive. Cytoplasmic redistribution was seen in 58\% of cases, but no nuclear staining was detected. No significant associations between β~catenin expression and the clinicopathological parameters were found. Kaplan{\textendash}Meier survival plots showed that patients with loss of membranous staining and pronounced cytoplasmic staining (score, 3) had a significantly shorter survival (p = 0.04; median survival, 5.87 months). Conclusion: Microsatellite analysis of APC and immunoexpression of β~catenin did not provide significant pathological or prognostic information in this cohort of nephroblastomas.}, issn = {0021-9746}, URL = {https://jcp.bmj.com/content/58/1/44}, eprint = {https://jcp.bmj.com/content/58/1/44.full.pdf}, journal = {Journal of Clinical Pathology} }