Clear cell and endometrioid carcinomas: are their differences attributable to distinct cells of origin?

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AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08

This study identifies cystathionine γ-lyase (CTH) as a marker for clear cell carcinoma, suggesting endometrioid cancers originate from secretory cells and clear cell cancers from ciliated cells.

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AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-09 · read from full text

The paper investigates whether differences between clear cell and endometrioid carcinomas of the endometrium (including presumed endometriosis-derived tumors) reflect distinct cells of origin rather than subtype-restricted mutations. Using a proteomics screen, the authors identify CTH as a clear cell differentiation marker, then show CTH and other ciliated-cell markers are expressed in ciliated cells of normal endometrium (including both eutopic endometrium and endometriosis) and in the fallopian tube, whereas secretory-cell markers characterize endometrioid carcinomas. They also develop a 3D organoid culture system to generate both ciliated and secretory lineages and report that clear cell carcinoma is IL-6 driven, linking IL-6 to maintenance of ciliated cells; a key limitation is that prior efforts did not find a single mutation class exclusively present in one histotype versus the other. This paper is centrally about endometriosis-derived clear cell carcinoma differentiation and the cellular context involving eutopic endometrium and endometriosis.

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Abstract

Endometrial epithelium is the presumed tissue of origin for both eutopic and endometriosis-derived clear cell and endometrioid carcinomas. We had previously hypothesized that the morphological, biological and clinical differences between these carcinomas are due to histotype-specific mutations. Although some mutations and genomic landscape features are more likely to be found in one of these histotypes, we were not able to identify a single class of mutations that was exclusively present in one histotype and not the other. This lack of genomic differences led us to an alternative hypothesis that these cancers could arise from distinct cells of origin within endometrial tissue, and that it is the cellular context that accounts for their differences. In a proteomic screen, we identified cystathionine γ-lyase (CTH) as a marker for clear cell carcinoma, as it is expressed at high levels in clear cell carcinomas of the ovary and endometrium. In the current study, we analysed normal Müllerian tissues, and found that CTH is expressed in ciliated cells of endometrium (both eutopic endometrium and endometriosis) and fallopian tubes. We then demonstrated that other ciliated cell markers are expressed in clear cell carcinomas, whereas endometrial secretory cell markers are expressed in endometrioid carcinomas. The same differential staining of secretory and ciliated cells was demonstrable in a three-dimensional organoid culture system, in which stem cells were stimulated to differentiate into an admixture of secretory and ciliated cells. These data suggest that endometrioid carcinomas are derived from cells of the secretory cell lineage, whereas clear cell carcinomas are derived from, or have similarities to, cells of the ciliated cell lineage. Copyright © 2017 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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- Library Home / - Search Collections / - Open Collections / - Browse Collections / - UBC Faculty Research and Publications / - Clear Cell and Endometrioid Carcinomas : are their... Open Collections UBC Faculty Research and Publications Clear Cell and Endometrioid Carcinomas : are their differences attributable to distinct cells of origin? Cochrane, Dawn Renee; Tessier-Cloutier, Basile; Lawrence, Katherine M.; Nazeran, Tayyebeh; Karnezis, Anthony N.; Salamanca, Clara; Cheng, Angela S.; McAlpine, Jessica N.; Hoang, Lien N.; Gilks, C. Blake; Huntsman, David G. Abstract Endometrial epithelium is the presumed tissue of origin for both eutopic and endometriosis-derived clear cell and endometrioid carcinomas. We had previously hypothesized that the morphological, biological and clinical differences between these cancers are due to subtype-restricted underlying mutations. Although some mutations and genomic landscape features are more likely to be found in one of these histotypes, we were not able to identify a single class of mutations that was exclusively present in one histotype and not the other. This lack of genomic differences led us to an alternative hypothesis that these cancers arise from distinct cells of origin within endometrial tissue, and it is the cellular context that accounts for their differences. In a proteomics screen, we have identified CTH as a marker for clear cell carcinoma differentiation, as it is expressed at high levels in clear cell carcinomas of the ovary and endometrium. We analyzed normal Müllerian tissues and found CTH was expressed in ciliated cells of endometrium (both eutopic endometrium and endometriosis) and fallopian tube. We have since determined that other ciliated cell markers are expressed in clear cell carcinomas whereas endometrial secretory cell markers are expressed in endometrioid carcinomas. To determine whether the ciliated endometrial cells are uterine derived we developed a 3D organoid culture system, which reliably produced both ciliated and secretory cells. Clear cell carcinoma is an IL-6 driven tumour and lineage experiments on bronchial epithelium have shown that IL-6 is an essential pathway in maintaining the population of ciliated cells. Taken together we hypothesize that endometrioid carcinomas are derived from cells of secretory cell lineage whereas clear cell carcinomas are derived from cells of endometrial origin that share features with a ciliated cell lineage. Item Metadata | Title | Clear Cell and Endometrioid Carcinomas : are their differences attributable to distinct cells of origin? | | Alternate Title | Distinct cellular origins for endometrioid and clear cell cancers | | Creator | | | Date Issued | 2017-04-23 | | Description | Endometrial epithelium is the presumed tissue of origin for both eutopic and endometriosis-derived clear cell and endometrioid carcinomas. We had previously hypothesized that the morphological, biological and clinical differences between these cancers are due to subtype-restricted underlying mutations. Although some mutations and genomic landscape features are more likely to be found in one of these histotypes, we were not able to identify a single class of mutations that was exclusively present in one histotype and not the other. This lack of genomic differences led us to an alternative hypothesis that these cancers arise from distinct cells of origin within endometrial tissue, and it is the cellular context that accounts for their differences. In a proteomics screen, we have identified CTH as a marker for clear cell carcinoma differentiation, as it is expressed at high levels in clear cell carcinomas of the ovary and endometrium. We analyzed normal Müllerian tissues and found CTH was expressed in ciliated cells of endometrium (both eutopic endometrium and endometriosis) and fallopian tube. We have since determined that other ciliated cell markers are expressed in clear cell carcinomas whereas endometrial secretory cell markers are expressed in endometrioid carcinomas. To determine whether the ciliated endometrial cells are uterine derived we developed a 3D organoid culture system, which reliably produced both ciliated and secretory cells. Clear cell carcinoma is an IL-6 driven tumour and lineage experiments on bronchial epithelium have shown that IL-6 is an essential pathway in maintaining the population of ciliated cells. Taken together we hypothesize that endometrioid carcinomas are derived from cells of secretory cell lineage whereas clear cell carcinomas are derived from cells of endometrial origin that share features with a ciliated cell lineage. | | Subject | | | Genre | | | Type | | | Language | eng | | Date Available | 2018-04-23 | | Provider | Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library | | Rights | Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International | | DOI | 10.14288/1.0347451 | | URI | | | Affiliation | | | Peer Review Status | Unreviewed | | Scholarly Level | Faculty; Postdoctoral | | Rights URI | | | Aggregated Source Repository | DSpace | Item Media Item Citations and Data Rights Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

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Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Biomarkers, Tumor Carcinoma, Endometrioid Cell Differentiation Cell Lineage Cystathionine gamma-Lyase Endometrial Neoplasms Epithelial Cells Stem Cells Biomarkers, Tumor Carcinoma, Endometrioid Carcinoma, Endometrioid Cells, Cultured Cilia Cilia Cilia Cystathionine gamma-Lyase Endometrial Neoplasms Endometrial Neoplasms Epithelial Cells Epithelial Cells

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