Assessment of folate receptor-? expression in human neoplastic tissues.

ABSTRACT: Over-expression of folate receptor alpha on cancer cells has been frequently exploited for delivery of folate-targeted imaging and therapeutic agents to tumors. Because limited information exists on expression of the beta isoform of the folate receptor in human cancers (FR-?), we have evaluated the immunohistochemical staining pattern of FR-? in 992 tumor sections from 20 different human cancer types using a new anti-human FR-? monoclonal antibody. FR-? expression was shown to be more pronounced in cells within the stroma, primarily macrophages and macrophage-like cells than cancer cells in every cancer type studied. Moreover, FR-? expression in both cancer and stromal cells was found to be statistically more prominent in females than males. A significant positive correlation was also observed between FR-? expression on stromal cells and both the stage of the cancer and the presence of lymph node metastases. Based on these data we conclude FR-? may constitute a good target for specific delivery of therapeutic agents to activated macrophages and that accumulation of FR-? positive macrophages in the stroma could serve as a useful indicator of a tumor's metastatic potential.

SUBMITTER: Shen J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4546498 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature