AE1/AE3

AE1/AE3 is an antibody cocktail that is used in immunohistochemistry, being generally positive in the cytoplasm of carcinomas (cancers of epithelial origin).^[1][2]

Histopathology of a pelvic lymph node in a patient with endometrial adenocarcinoma (FIGO grade 1):
- Left panel shows H&E staining and low magnification, where any presence of small metastases is hard to see.
- Middle panel shows immunohistochemistry for CK AE1/AE3, which highlights even small tumor nests.
- The right panel shows high magnification on a positive area, confirming adenocarcinoma, as it shows tumor cells with large nuclei and prominent nucleoli.

Targets

The antibody cocktail binds to cytokeratin 1 - 8, 10, 14 - 16 and 19 (but not CK17 or CK18).^[1] It is therefore used as a marker of carcinomas, such as depth of invasion and metastases.^[1] For example, it is both relatively sensitive and specific for detection of breast cancer metastasis to sentinel lymph nodes.^[3]

It may cross-react with GFAP, leading to aberrant staining of glial tumors such as ependymoma, glioblastoma and schwannoma.^[1] It may also stain myofibroblasts and smooth muscle cells.^[1] Furthermore, it may stain nodal epithelial cells that has contaminated a tumor from recent biopsy.^[1]

See also

• List of histologic stains that aid in diagnosis of cutaneous conditions