Acid phosphatase

Stains
Acid phosphatase

Author: Nat Pernick, M.D. (see Authors page)

Revised: 3 November 2015, last major update August 2013

Copyright: (c) 2003-2015, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.

PubMed Search: Acid phosphatase[title]

Table of Contents

Definition / general | Clinical features | Microscopic (histologic) images | Positive staining - normal | Positive staining - disease

Cite this page: Acid phosphatase. PathologyOutlines.com website. http://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/stainsacidphosphatase.html. Accessed July 12th, 2017.

Definition / general

Class of enzymes that releases phosphate groups, optimally at acid pH (Mol Pathol 2002;55:65)
Usually detected with enzyme histochemistry technique
Examples include PAP-prostatic acid phosphatase and TRAP-tartrate resistant acid phosphatase
Also useful for examining skeletal muscle pathology

Clinical features

Higher serum acid phosphatase in malaria patients (Indian J Clin Biochem 2011;26:396)
Acid phosphatase locus 1 allele:
- Produced by erythrocytes, encodes low molecular weight phosphotyrosine phosphatase
- Genetically polymorphic; three common alleles segregating at corresponding locus give rise to six phenotypes (Wikipedia)
- Associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (Hum Immunol 2012;73:107)

Microscopic (histologic) images

Images hosted on Pathout server:

Pre-T ALL: focal
paranuclear staining

Images hosted on other servers:

Skeletal muscle: immune myopathies with perimysial pathology

Skeletal muscle: perimysial inflammation in dermatomyositis

Skeletal muscle: necrotic muscle in dermatomyositis

Positive staining - normal

Osteoclasts, megakaryocytes and macrophages

Positive staining - disease

Osteoclastic giant cells in tumors
Acute basophilic leukemia, T-ALL (focal paranuclear), AML-M6b, T cell large granular lymphocytic leukemia, T cell prolymphocytic leukemia
Epulis, granular cell tumor, histiocytic sarcoma