SATB2 – Antibody Lexicon

Synonyms: Special AT-rich sequence binding-protein 2

by Jan Klos

Background

It is DNA-binding protein, which specifically binds to nuclear matrix attachment regions of DNA. It is involved in regulation of transcription and chromatin remodeling.

Staining pattern

Nuclear.

Staining in normal tissues

Almost all glandular cells lining the lower GI tract, including the appendix, colon, and rectum, neuronal cells from the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, osteoblasts. A subset of lymphoid cells, cells in the seminiferous ducts of the testis and cells lining the epididymis may show weak-to-moderate positivity with polyclonal antibody. The expression of SATB2 is not found in most other cell types including epithelial cells of the lung, breast, esophagus, small intestine, stomach, thyroid, smooth muscle and skeletal cells, as well as hepatocytes, urothelial, bile duct, renal tubular, and placental cells.

Staining in tumors

Not entirely organ/tumor specific and positivity is reported as follows:

~ 100% osteosarcoma and intestinal-type adenocarcinoma (ITAC) of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses.
~ 95% (~85% when metastatic) cases of adenocarcinoma of the appendix and conventional type colorectal adenocarcinoma (but less ~ 80% of mucinous type colorectal adenocarcinoma).
~ 90% lymphoepithelial like (medullary) carcinoma of colon/rectum and neuroendocrine tumors in colon/rectum (hindgut). Primary neuroendocrine tumors in foregut and midgut are positive in 10-20% in (even less in metastases).
~ 75% Merkel cell carcinoma and ~ 50% adenocarcinoma of urinary bladder stain positive.
~ 50% small intestinal adenocarcinoma (usually showing weak staining).
~ 20-25% mesenchymal chondrosarcoma, transitional cell carcinoma, papillary renal cell carcinoma, gastric adenocarcinoma, pancreatic adenocarcinoma are reported positive.
~10-15%, sclerosing epithelioid fibrosarcoma, squamous cell carcinoma of the lung, Ewing sarcoma, angiosarcoma, adenocarcinoma of the lung with enteric differentiation, adenocarcinoma of endocervix, intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma…

Single cases of mucinous cystadenoma of the ovary, endometrioid adenocarcinoma, adenocarcinoma of the lung and serous cystadenocarcinoma of the ovary are also reported positive (with polyclonal antibodies), but positivity is usually weaker and present in the minority of cells. Mucinous gastroesophageal and mucinous breast adenocarcinomas may show some reactivity too. Staining is usually strong in majority of cells. Some of the reactivity data is based on polyclonal antibodies. The frequency of positive staining may be even lower when using monoclonal antibodies i.e. polyclonal antibody used to react with a subset of lymphocytes (and DLBCL) but this reactivity is not seen with monoclonal antibody SP281. The mAb clone OTI5H7 and the rmAb clones EP281, SP281 and ZR167 could all provide optimal result according to Run 58 in NordiQC.

Control tissue

Appendix or colon.

Application

Confirming origin of carcinoma from lower alimentary tract (appendix, colon and rectum)
Confirming origin of lymphoepithelial-like (medullary) carcinoma of colon/rectum which is usually negative for CK7, CK20 and CDX2 (used together with Cadherin 17).
Differential diagnosis of metastatic vs. primary mucinous carcinoma in the ovary.
Finding the origin of unknown primary adenocarcinoma
Recommended to use in the panel together with CK20, CAD17 and CDX2.
Confirming presence of osteoblasts.

by Jan Klos

Background

Staining pattern

Staining in normal tissues

Staining in tumors

Control tissue

Application

Selected references