Human embryonal epithelial cells of the developing small intestinal crypts can express the Hodgkin-cell associated antigen Ki-1 (CD30) in spontaneous abortions during the first trimester of gestation

Our plain-English summary of Human embryonal epithelial cells of the developing small intestinal crypts can express the Hodgkin-cell associated antigen Ki-1 (CD30) in spontaneous abortions during the first trimester of gestation, by D. Tamiolakis, J. Venizelos, M. Lambropoulou, et al (Theoretical Biology & Medical Modelling, 2005).

The study

• Authors: D. Tamiolakis, J. Venizelos, M. Lambropoulou, S. Nikolaidou, S. Bolioti, M. Tsiapali, D. Verettas, P. Tsikouras, A. Chatzimichail, N. Papadopoulos
• Journal: Theoretical Biology & Medical Modelling
• Published: 2005;2:1
• Cited by: 11 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Background: Ki-1 (CD30) antigen expression is not found on peripheral blood cells but its expression can be induced in vitro on T and B lymphocytes by viruses and lectins. Expression of CD30 in normal tissues is very limited, being restricted mainly to a subpopulation of large lymphoid cells; in particular, cells of the recently described anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), the Reed-Sternberg (RS) cells of Hodgkin's lymphoma and scattered large parafollicular cells in normal lymphoid tissues. More recent reports have described CD30 expression in non-hematopoietic and malignant cells such as cultured human macrophages, human decidual cells, histiocytic neoplastic cells, mesothelioma cells, embryonal carcinoma and seminoma cells.

Results: We investigated the immunohistochemical expression of CD30 antigen in 15 paraffin-embedded tissue samples representing small intestines from fetuses after spontaneous abortion in the 8th, 10th and 12th weeks using the monoclonal antibody Ki-1. Hormones had been administered to all our pregnant women to support gestation. In addition, a panel of monoclonal antibodies was used to identify leukocytes (CD45/LCA), B-lymphocytes (CD20/L-26) and T-lymphocytes (CD3). Our findings were correlated with those obtained simultaneously from intestinal tissue samples obtained from 15 fetuses after therapeutic or voluntary abortions.

Conclusions: The results showed that: (1) epithelial cells in the developing intestinal crypts express the CD30 (Ki-1) antigen; (2) CD30 expression in these epithelial cells is higher in cases of hormonal administration than in normal gestation. In the former cases (hormonal support of gestation) a mild mononuclear intraepithelial infiltrate composed of CD3 (T-marker)-positive cells accompanies the CD30-positive cells.

In plain English

This study looked at whether a protein called CD30 (also called Ki-1), known as a marker of certain lymphoma cells, appears in the developing small intestine of human fetuses. It is not a study of asbestos; mesothelioma is mentioned only as background from other research. The authors stained small-intestine tissue from 15 fetuses after spontaneous abortion, in pregnancies where the women had been given progesterone, and from 15 fetuses after therapeutic or voluntary abortion, at 8, 10 and 12 weeks of gestation. In the spontaneous-abortion group, CD30-positive crypt cells rose from a mean of 3.61 at week 8 to 5.27 at week 10 and 5.34 at week 12 (p less than 0.0001). In the voluntary or therapeutic abortion group, the means stayed between 3.41 and 3.43 (p = 0.95). The article describes these values both as percentages and as cells per square millimetre. The authors concluded that crypt cells express CD30 and stated that progesterone induces this. They noted that they had studied only one tissue from a small number of fetuses, and that the results needed confirmation on frozen sections.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Laboratory (immunohistochemical) study of fetal tissue comparing two groups of abortions, analysed by ANOVA
• Who was studied: Small intestines from 15 fetuses after spontaneous abortion (mothers treated with progesterone) and 15 fetuses after therapeutic or voluntary abortion, at the 8th, 10th and 12th weeks of gestation. The article does not state where or when the samples were collected, or how many fetuses were in each week.
• Exposure: No asbestos exposure was studied. The only exposure compared was hormonal support of pregnancy: progesterone 300–600 mg per day until the 12th gestational week, given to the women whose pregnancies ended in spontaneous abortion.
• Main results:
  • Spontaneous abortions, 8th week: CD30-positive crypt cells ranged from 3.2 to 3.9 (mean 3.61, standard deviation 0.16)
  • Voluntary or therapeutic abortions, 8th week: range 3.1 to 3.7 (mean 3.42, standard deviation 0.17)
  • Spontaneous abortions, 10th week: range 4.9 to 5.6 (mean 5.27, standard deviation 0.19)
  • Voluntary or therapeutic abortions, 10th week: range 3.2 to 3.9 (mean 3.43, standard deviation 0.18)
  • Spontaneous abortions, 12th week: range 4.8 to 5.7 (mean 5.34, standard deviation 0.23)
  • Voluntary or therapeutic abortions, 12th week: range 3.2 to 3.7 (mean 3.41, standard deviation 0.17)
  • Differences across the 8th, 10th and 12th weeks were statistically significant in the spontaneous-abortion group (p less than 0.0001) but not in the voluntary or therapeutic abortion group (p = 0.95)
  • At the 8th week, a slight infiltration of mononuclear cells was seen in the intestinal tissue around the crypts in spontaneous abortions. No inflammatory infiltrates or necrosis were noted in voluntary or therapeutic abortions.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the epithelial cells of developing intestinal crypts express CD30. They stated that this expression is induced by progesterone, describing this as a novel mechanism of CD30 induction.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Only a single tissue from a small number of fetuses of early gestational age was studied
  • The results need confirmation using frozen sections

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Macrophage, Mesothelioma, Carcinoma, Monoclonal Antibody.

Related studies

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• Potential application and prevalence of the CD30 (Ki-1) antigen among solid tumors: A focus review of the literature — G.K. Berger, K. Gee, et al. (2017)
• Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma giving rise to multiple intestinal polyps — F.G. Mayall, A.R. Gibbs (1991)
• Asbestos induction of extended lifespan in normal human mesothelial cells: interindividual susceptibility and SV40 T antigen — L. Xu, B.J. Flynn, et al. (1999)
• Neoplastic-like transformation effect of single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotubes compared to asbestos on human lung small airway epithelial cells — L. Wang, T.A. Stueckle, et al. (2014)
• Changes in DNA 8-hydroxyguanine levels, 8-hydroxyguanine repair activity, and hOGG1 and hMTH1 mRNA expression in human lung alveolar epithelial cells induced by crocidolite asbestos — H.N. Kim, Y. Morimoto, et al. (2001)

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