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Expression of the proto-oncogene c-KIT in normal and tumor tissues from colorectal carcinoma patients

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International Journal of Colorectal Disease Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background and aims

The proto-oncogene c-KIT encodes a tyrosine kinase receptor essential during embryonic development and postnatal life. Although deregulated expression of c-KIT has been reported, its role in colorectal carcinoma remains controversial: some authors have described a correlation between c-KIT expression and colorectal cancer (CRC), while others have failed to detect the receptor in the majority of neoplasia examined. To address this question, we designed a prospective study to analyze the expression of c-KIT in normal and neoplastic colonic mucosa of the same patient.

Patients and methods

We analyzed the tissues of 20 patients undergoing surgical resection for colorectal carcinoma by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, Western blot and immunohistochemistry, whose results were correlated with histopathological parameters.

Results

Most patients (90%) showed c-KIT expression in normal tissue both at RNA and protein level, while in neoplastic tissue it was observed in 30% of patients at RNA level and in 10% at protein level. By immunohistochemistry the localization of c-KIT protein in the normal colon was restricted to interstitial cells scattered in the stroma, whereas the non-neoplastic epithelium was always negative. The mucinous carcinomas were all c-KIT negative, whereas the only case in which c-KIT was displayed in the neoplastic epithelium was a G3 adenocarcinoma.

Conclusion

Most colorectal carcinomas do not express c-KIT. We suggest that c-KIT expression is rarely present in this neoplasia; thus, the use of receptor inhibitors should be conducted in selected sub-groups of colon carcinoma patients, subsequent to the clear demonstration of c-KIT overexpression in the neoplastic cells.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from CNR (CUO1) and MURST 2000.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health and Cell Biology, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Via Montpellier 1, 00133, Rome, Italy

    Innocenzo Sammarco, Pellegrino Rossi, Claudio Sette & Raffaele Geremia

  2. Digestive and Liver Disease Unit, II Medical School, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy

    Gabriele Capurso, Sara Cassetta & Gianfranco Delle Fave

  3. Department of Laboratory Medicine, U.O.C. of Pathology Anatomy, S. Filippo Neri Hospital, Rome, Italy

    Luigi Coppola & Antonio Paniccià Bonifazi

  4. Department of Surgical Oncology, S. Filippo Neri Hospital, Rome, Italy

    Alessandro Carrara & Giovanni Battista Grassi

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  1. Innocenzo Sammarco
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  2. Gabriele Capurso
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  3. Luigi Coppola
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  11. Raffaele Geremia
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Correspondence to Raffaele Geremia.

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Sammarco, I., Capurso, G., Coppola, L. et al. Expression of the proto-oncogene c-KIT in normal and tumor tissues from colorectal carcinoma patients. Int J Colorectal Dis 19, 545–553 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00384-004-0601-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00384-004-0601-9

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