Immunohistochemical Expression of Endothelial MARKERS CD31, CD34, von Willebrand Factor, and Fli-1 in Normal Human Tissues

Marc Pusztaszeri ^1*, Pascal Chaubert ¹, Walter Seelentag ¹ and Fred T. Bosman ¹

¹ Institute of Pathology, Lausanne, Switzerland

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Marc.Pusztaszeri{at}chuv.ch.

Submitted on August 31, 2004
Accepted on 28 September 2005

	Abstract

Background: Endothelial cells (EC) from various sites in the vascular tree have many functional and morphological features in common but they also display remarkable heterogeneity. This structural and functional heterogeneity might have implications for angiogenesis, vascular healing and the development of cardiovascular disease. Few systematic studies have been published comparing the expression and distribution of EC markers in different vascular beds in normal human tissues. Objective: We investigated by immunohistochemistry the expression of CD31, CD34, vWF and Fli-1 in the peripheral vessels and microvasculature of the kidney, lungs, spleen, liver, heart, lymph nodes, bone marrow, skin and large vessels including the aorta, inferior cava vein, renal artery, femoral artery and vein and pulmonary artery and vein. Methods: The tissue samples were obtained from autopsies and biopsy specimens. Tissues were formalin fixed and paraffin embedded and paraffin sections were stained immunohistochemically for CD31, CD34 and vWF. In addition, biopsy material was also stained immunohistochemically for Fli-1 protein, D2-40 and Lyve-1. Results: The expression pattern of the markers was heterogeneous in some of the organs studied. In the kidney, fenestrated endothelium of the glomeruli strongly expressed CD31 and CD34 but was only focally positive or completely negative for vWF. Capillaries in the alveolar wall of the lung strongly stained for CD31 and CD34 but were usually negative for vWF. The staining intensity for vWF increased gradually with the vessel calibre in the lung. Sinusoids of the spleen were diffusely positive for CD31 but negative for CD34. Sinusoids of the liver expressed CD31 all along from the portal triad to the centrolobular vein. In contrast, CD34 was only expressed in the periportal area. Fli-1 was expressed in all types of EC, irrespective of vessel type or organ but also in a variety of other cell types. In all organs tested, D2-40 stained lymphatic endothelium only. Lyve-1 immunostaining was too variable to be applied to routinely processed tissues. Conclusion: These results indicate that expression of EC markers CD31, CD34 and vWF in the vascular tree is heterogeneous with a specific pattern for individual vessel types and different anatomic compartments of the same organ. D2-40 labels lymphatic EC only.

Key Words: PECAM-1, CD34, vWF, Fli-1, HUVEC, heterogeneity, microvasculature

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