Reviewer's report
Title:CD44 but not CD24 expressions are related to poor prognosis in gastric
cancer
Version:1Date:7 April 2014
Reviewer: Emilie Bessède
Reviewer's report:
The aim of this article was to investigate wether CD44 and/or CD24 expression
was altered in gastric cancer. The authors have included 290 cases of human
gastric cancer. They performed immunohistochemistry on the tumors. They have
concluded that CD44 expression was associated to a poor prognosis in gastric
cancer but they didn’t find any association between this marker and the different
clinical parameters nor with H. pylori status. No difference of CD24 expression
has been observed for all of these parameters.
Comments.
Major comments.
General comments. The histopathological types of the gastric cancers following
Lauren classification are not mentioned. It is important to have this clinical data
and to precise what is the localization of the adenocarcinoma (cardia or not) in so
far as it could explain why there is so few H. pylori positive patients.
Material and method. As this study only uses immunohistochemistry methods to
quantify CD24 and CD44 expressions, it should include photographies of the
different references of the intensities: 0,1,2,3 and 4. It could be included as
supplemental data. How many fields have been counted and how many cells
have been counted to get the percentage of the positive cells? I regret that the
quantification is only supported by IHC which is quite subjective depending on
the area of the blocks and of course of the pathologists. Even if the authors
asked 2 different pathologists, this is a failure of this study. The study would be
very interesting if a quantification of CD44 and CD24 expression would be
performed using molecular technology.
Discussion.
Page 10. I do not agree with the sentence “no CD24 and CD44 positive staining
was found in the normal gastric surface epithelium, it was consistent (and not
consist) with previous studies”. For example, one study (Bessède E et al.,
Oncogene 2013) has shown that in normal gastric mucosa CD44 is expressed.
You should check and change this sentence.
Page 10, second paragraph. Can you precise which studies are showing that
CD24 was expressed in the various tumors you mention ?
Page 11. The first paragraph is not essential and should be changed. When
reading your discussion, I do not understand why you are talking about the roles
of CD44: you do not give any explanation of the potential role of CD44 and the
survival.
You are talking about a study perfomed by Zhang et al., but CD44 has already
been described as a gastric CSC in 2009 by Takaishi. Concerning CD24 I do not
think that it is judicious to conclude that CD44+/CD24+ cells are gastric CSC vs.
CD44-/CD24-. To compare the expression of CD24, you should compare the
properties of cells CD44+ and expressing or not CD24.
Reviewer's report
Title:CD44 but not CD24 expressions are related to poor prognosis in gastric
cancer
Version:1Date:7 April 2014
Reviewer: Emilie Bessède
Reviewer's report:
The aim of this article was to investigate wether CD44 and/or CD24 expression
was altered in gastric cancer. The authors have included 290 cases of human
gastric cancer. They performed immunohistochemistry on the tumors. They have
concluded that CD44 expression was associated to a poor prognosis in gastric
cancer but they didn’t find any association between this marker and the different
clinical parameters nor with H. pylori status. No difference of CD24 expression
has been observed for all of these parameters.
Comments.
Major comments.
General comments. The histopathological types of the gastric cancers following
Lauren classification are not mentioned. It is important to have this clinical data
and to precise what is the localization of the adenocarcinoma (cardia or not) in so
far as it could explain why there is so few H. pylori positive patients.
Material and method. As this study only uses immunohistochemistry methods to
quantify CD24 and CD44 expressions, it should include photographies of the
different references of the intensities: 0,1,2,3 and 4. It could be included as
supplemental data. How many fields have been counted and how many cells
have been counted to get the percentage of the positive cells? I regret that the
quantification is only supported by IHC which is quite subjective depending on
the area of the blocks and of course of the pathologists. Even if the authors
asked 2 different pathologists, this is a failure of this study. The study would be
very interesting if a quantification of CD44 and CD24 expression would be
performed using molecular technology.
Discussion.
Page 10. I do not agree with the sentence “no CD24 and CD44 positive staining
was found in the normal gastric surface epithelium, it was consistent (and not
consist) with previous studies”. For example, one study (Bessède E et al.,
Oncogene 2013) has shown that in normal gastric mucosa CD44 is expressed.
You should check and change this sentence.
Page 10, second paragraph. Can you precise which studies are showing that
CD24 was expressed in the various tumors you mention ?
Page 11. The first paragraph is not essential and should be changed. When
reading your discussion, I do not understand why you are talking about the roles
of CD44: you do not give any explanation of the potential role of CD44 and the
survival.
You are talking about a study perfomed by Zhang et al., but CD44 has already
been described as a gastric CSC in 2009 by Takaishi. Concerning CD24 I do not
think that it is judicious to conclude that CD44+/CD24+ cells are gastric CSC vs.
CD44-/CD24-. To compare the expression of CD24, you should compare the
properties of cells CD44+ and expressing or not CD24.
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report
Title:CD44 but not CD24 expressions are related to poor prognosis in gastric
cancer
Version:1Date:7 April 2014
Reviewer: Emilie Bessède
Reviewer's report:
The aim of this article was to investigate wether CD44 and/or CD24 expression
was altered in gastric cancer. The authors have included 290 cases of human
gastric cancer. They performed immunohistochemistry on the tumors. They have
concluded that CD44 expression was associated to a poor prognosis in gastric
cancer but they didn’t find any association between this marker and the different
clinical parameters nor with H. pylori status. No difference of CD24 expression
has been observed for all of these parameters.
Comments.
Major comments.
General comments. The histopathological types of the gastric cancers following
Lauren classification are not mentioned. It is important to have this clinical data
and to precise what is the localization of the adenocarcinoma (cardia or not) in so
far as it could explain why there is so few H. pylori positive patients.
Material and method. As this study only uses immunohistochemistry methods to
quantify CD24 and CD44 expressions, it should include photographies of the
different references of the intensities: 0,1,2,3 and 4. It could be included as
supplemental data. How many fields have been counted and how many cells
have been counted to get the percentage of the positive cells? I regret that the
quantification is only supported by IHC which is quite subjective depending on
the area of the blocks and of course of the pathologists. Even if the authors
asked 2 different pathologists, this is a failure of this study. The study would be
very interesting if a quantification of CD44 and CD24 expression would be
performed using molecular technology.
Discussion.
Page 10. I do not agree with the sentence “no CD24 and CD44 positive staining
was found in the normal gastric surface epithelium, it was consistent (and not
consist) with previous studies”. For example, one study (Bessède E et al.,
Oncogene 2013) has shown that in normal gastric mucosa CD44 is expressed.
You should check and change this sentence.
Page 10, second paragraph. Can you precise which studies are showing that
CD24 was expressed in the various tumors you mention ?
Page 11. The first paragraph is not essential and should be changed. When
reading your discussion, I do not understand why you are talking about the roles
of CD44: you do not give any explanation of the potential role of CD44 and the
survival.
You are talking about a study perfomed by Zhang et al., but CD44 has already
been described as a gastric CSC in 2009 by Takaishi. Concerning CD24 I do not
think that it is judicious to conclude that CD44+/CD24+ cells are gastric CSC vs.
CD44-/CD24-. To compare the expression of CD24, you should compare the
properties of cells CD44+ and expressing or not CD24.
assistant