The diagnosis of follicular dendritic cell (FDC) sarcoma can be challenging because of its morphologic overlaps with many other spindle cell neoplasms and, therefore, new phenotypic markers will be helpful in its differential diagnosis. Podoplanin is a mucin-type transmembrane glycoprotein that has recently been detected in reactive FDCs. In this study, we investigated the expression patterns o...

Podoplanin/Aggrus is a sialoglycoprotein expressed in various cancers. We previously identified podoplanin as a key factor in tumor-induced platelet aggregation. Podoplanin-mediated platelet aggregation enhances tumor growth and metastasis by secreting growth factors and by forming tumor emboli in the microvasculature. Thus, precise analysis of the mechanisms of podoplanin-mediated platelet agg...

There is no therapeutic intervention proven to prevent acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Novel mechanistic insights into the pathophysiology of ARDS are therefore required. Platelets are implicated in regulating many of the pathogenic processes that occur during ARDS; however, the mechanisms remain elusive. The platelet receptor CLEC-2 has been shown to regulate vascular integrity at ...

BACKGROUND Puromycin aminonucleoside nephrosis (PAN) is a rat model for human minimal change nephropathy. During PAN, severe proteinuria is induced that is paralleled by a reduced expression of a rat podocyte protein, named podoplanin. The protein probably plays a role in maintaining the unique shape of podocytes. Recently, attenuated amino acid transport has been observed in cultured mouse glo...

NFATc1 transcription factor is critical for lineage selection in T-cell differentiation, cardiac valve morphogenesis and osteoclastogenesis. We identified a role for calcineurin-NFAT signaling in lymphatic development and patterning. NFATc1 was colocalized with lymphatic markers Prox-1, VEGFR-3 and podoplanin on cardinal vein as lymphatic endothelial cells (LEC) are specified and as they segreg...

BACKGROUND The activation of platelet CLEC-2 by podoplanin on lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) has a critical role in prevention of mixing of lymphatic and blood vasculatures during embryonic development. Paradoxically, LECs release cAMP and cGMP-elevating agents, prostacyclin (PGI2 ) and nitric oxide (NO), respectively, which are powerful inhibitors of platelet activation. This raises the qu...

PURPOSE To analyze whether lymphatic vessels can invade the normally alymphatic eye (lymphangiogenesis) in patients with malignant melanoma of the ciliary body with extraocular extension and to correlate these findings with metastasis-free survival. METHODS Ten enucleated globes with the histopathologically and immunohistochemically (S-100, HMB-45, PNL-2, and Melan-A) confirmed diagnosis of m...

The aim of the study was to find the optimal immunostaining protocol for monoclonal mouse anti human podoplanin antibody clone 18H5, which is less studied. We tested three detection systems for different antibody dilutions and antigen retrieval methods applied on normal and tumor breast tissues, lip squamous cell carcinoma, kidney tumors and testis carcinoma. The interpretation was linked to th...

The diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma in serosal effusions continues to be a major challenge because some of its cytomorphological features closely resemble adenocarcinomas. Immunohistochemistry is a valuable tool in the differentiation of epithelioid mesothelioma from metastatic adenocarcinomas. However, no single antibody has demonstrated absolute sensitivity or specificity. In this study, ...

OBJECTIVE The lymphatic vascular system exerts major physiological functions in the transport of interstitial fluid from peripheral tissues back to the blood circulation and in the trafficking of immune cells to lymph nodes. Previous studies in global constitutive knockout mice for the lymphatic transmembrane molecule podoplanin reported perinatal lethality and a complex phenotype with lung abn...