Antigen Background

Cytokeratin 20 has been demonstrated to be almost entirely confined to the gastric and intestinal epithelium, urothelium and Merkel cells of the skin. Cytokeratin 20 is less acidic than other type I cytokeratins and is of interest due to its restricted tissue expression. In normal tissue, cytokeratin 20 is expressed in intestinal epithelium, gastric foveolar epithelium, a number of endocrine cells in the upper portions of the pyloric glands, urothelium and Merkel cells in epidermis. In tumors it is reported, there is a marked difference in the expression of cytokeratin 20 within different carcinomas. Neoplasms expressing cytokeratin 20 are derived from normal epithelia which themselves expressed cytokeratin 20. Colorectal carcinomas consistently express cytokeratin 20, while gastric adenocarcinomas express cytokeratin 20 to a lesser degree. Adenocarcinomas of the gall bladder and bile duct, ductal cell adenocarcinomas of the pancreas, mucinous ovarian tumors, Merkel cell tumors and transitional cell carcinomas have also been reported to express cytokeratin 20.

Disclaimer

Cytokeratin 20 is recommended for the detection of specific antigens of interest in normal and neoplastic tissues, as an adjunct to conventional histopathology using non-immunologic histochemical stains.