HISTOLOGY AND HISTOPATHOLOGY

From Cell Biology to Tissue Engineering

 

Review

PSMA expression on neovasculature of solid tumors

Christophe Van de Wiele1,5, Mike Sathekge2, Bart de Spiegeleer3, Pieter Jan De Jonghe1, Philip R. Debruyne4, Marleen Borms4, Laurence Beels1,6 and Alex Maes1,6

1Department of Nuclear Medicine, AZ Groeninge, Kortrijk, Belgium, 2Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South-Africa, 3Laboratory of Drug Quality and Registration, Ghent University, Ghent, 4Department of Radiotherapy and Medical Oncology, AZ Groeninge, Kortrijk, 5Department of Nuclear Medicine and Radiology, Ghent University and 6Department of Imaging and Pathology @ KULAK, KU Leuven campus Kulak, Kortrijk, Belgium

Offprint requests to: Christophe Van de Wiele, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Nuclear Medicine, AZ Groeninge, President Kennedylaan 4, Kortrijk, Belgium. e-mail: cvdwiele@hotmail.com


Summary. The use of prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) binding agents, labelled with diagnostic and therapeutic radio-isotopes is opening the potential for a new era of personalized management of prostate carcinoma. A wide variety of immuno-histochemistry studies have shown PSMA also to be upregulated on the endothelial cells of the neovasculature of a wide variety of other solid tumors where it may facilitate endothelial cell sprouting and invasion through its regulation of lytic proteases that have the ability to cleave the extracellular matrix. Similar to the introduction of PSMA-targeting theranostics in prostate carcinoma, overexpression of PSMA on newly formed tumor vessels may serve as a target for imaging and subsequent treatment of cancer through the use of agents that are capable of blocking PSMA in its function or through PSMA-mediated delivery of chemotherapeutics or radiation agents. In this review, the available data on PSMA expression on tumor neovasculature in human solid tumors assessed by using immunohistochemistry are discussed. Histol Histopathol 35, 919-927 (2020)

Key words: PSMA, Neovasculature, Solid tumors

DOI: 10.14670/HH-18-215