Stromal micropapillary pattern and CD44s expression predict worse outcome in lung adenocarcinomas with micropapillary pattern.

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the clinicopathologic characteristics of lung adenocarcinoma with micropapillary pattern (MPP) and the expression of CD44s and CD44v6 in MPP.

Methods: A total of 202 patients diagnosed with primary lung adenocarcinoma with MPP were included. We estimated the proportion of MPP in each tumor tissue and divided MPP into aerogenous micropapillary pattern (AMP) and stromal micropapillary pattern (SMP). The expression of CD44s and CD44v6 was estimated by immunohistochemical staining. Clinicopathologic data were collected from the patients' medical records. We also collected patients' follow-up data and used PFS (progression-free survival) as a survival indicator.

Results: Lung adenocarcinoma with MPP had a high risk of pleural invasion, lymph node metastasis, in advanced TNM stage, and a high rate of EGFR mutation. The presence of SMP indicated a higher rate of pleural invasion, lymphovascular invasion, lymph node metastasis, and a worse PFS compared with pure AMP. We found high expression of CD44s in micropapillary, especially in AMP, while the absence of CD44s expression indicated shorter survival, which was an independent unfavorable factor for PFS.

Conclusions: Lung adenocarcinoma with micropapillary pattern indicated an unfavorable prognosis, which had two different pattens, AMP and SMP. SMP indicated a worse survival than AMP, and was an independent unfavorable factor for PFS. So, AMP/SMP subclassification is necessary to evaluate patient's prognosis. Furthermore, the absent expression of CD44s in micropapillary indicated shorter survival, especially in patients with EGFR mutation. Herein, CD44s may be a biological marker for micropapillary lung adenocarcinoma.