Virchows Archiv

, Volume 426, Issue 4, pp 361–367 | Cite as

Immunohistochemical distribution of chromogranins A and B and secretogranin II in neuroendocrine tumours of the gastrointestinal tract

  • A. G. Fahrenkamp
  • C. Wibbeke
  • W. Böcker
  • K. W. Schmid
  • G. Winde
  • D. Öfner
  • R. Fischer-Colbrie
Original Article
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate immunohistochemically the distribution of chromogranin A, chromogranin B, and secretogranin II in a series of 152 neuroendocrine tumours of the gastrointestinal tract. Tumour tissues from 25 argyrophil gastric carcinoids, 18 gastrin and 5 somatostatin-producing tumours, 4 ‘gangliocytic paragangliomas’, 49 classical argentaffin and 2 L cell appendiceal carcinoids, 27 classical ileal carcinoids, 17 rectal carcinoids, and 5 poorly differentiated neuroendocrine tumours of the stomach and rectum were immunostained with antibodies against chromogranin A, chromogranin B, and secretogranin II. Chromogranin A was the major granin expressed in gastric carcinoids and in serotonin-producing carcinoids of the appendix and the ileum. In contrast, strong chromogranin B and secretogranin II immunoreactivity was found in rectal carcinoids, in which chromogranin A was rarely expressed. Since chromogranin A is a widely used marker for neuroendocrine differentiation, it is of diagnostic importance that some gastrin-producing tumours, ‘gangliocytic paragangliomas’, poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas, and appendiceal L cell carcinoids completely lacked chromogranin A positivity. It is concluded that the various neuroendocrine tumours of the gastrointestinal tract show distinctly different patterns of granin expression, probably reflecting their histogenetical origin.

Key words

Chromogranin A Chromogranin B Secretogranin II Secretoneurin Neuroendocrine tumours Gastrointestinal tract Immunohistochemistry 
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 1995

Authors and Affiliations

  • A. G. Fahrenkamp
    • 1
  • C. Wibbeke
    • 1
  • W. Böcker
    • 1
  • K. W. Schmid
    • 1
  • G. Winde
    • 2
  • D. Öfner
    • 3
  • R. Fischer-Colbrie
    • 4
  1. 1.Department of PathologyUniversity of MünsterMünsterGermany
  2. 2.Department of SurgeryUniversity of MünsterMünsterGermany
  3. 3.Department of Surgery IUniversity of InnsbruckAustria
  4. 4.Department of PharmacologyUniversity of InnsbruckAustria

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