The pathologic characterization of
adrenocortical cancer is still problematic for several reasons, including the identification of novel markers of diagnostic or prognostic relevance. Among them,
steroidogenic factor 1 deserves major interest because of its potential usefulness as a marker of adrenocortical derivation and of
biological aggressiveness. Our aim was to validate its prognostic relevance in a large series of
adrenocortical cancer, comparing the performance of 2 different commercial
antibodies and investigating its expression in
adrenocortical cancer variants and in comparison with clinical and pathologic features. Seventy-five (including 53 classical, 10 myxoid, and 12 oncocytic)
adrenocortical cancer cases were included in tissue microarrays and analyzed for the immunohistochemical expression of
steroidogenic factor 1 using 2 commercial
antibodies, 1 polyclonal and 1 monoclonal (N1665). Nuclear
steroidogenic factor 1 staining was assessed using a semiquantitative score and correlated with
adrenocortical cancer type and clinical pathologic characteristics. A weak but significant correlation was found comparing the 2
antibodies with a positive rate of 88% and 58% using the monoclonal and polyclonal
antibodies, respectively. High
steroidogenic factor 1 expression with the N1665 antibody was positively correlated with high mitotic count, high Ki-67 index, and high European Network for the Study of Adrenal
Tumors (ENSAT) stage and negatively associated with loss of functionality and presence of oncocytic features. Moreover, high
steroidogenic factor 1 expression with this same antibody was significantly associated at univariate analysis with a decreased survival, together with high Ki-67 and mitotic indexes, with a trend to significance confirmed by multivariate analysis, thus supporting the detection of
steroidogenic factor 1 using the N1665 antibody as a novel prognostic marker in
adrenocortical cancer.