A black hepatocellular carcinoma with Dubin-Johnson-like pigment and Mallory bodies: a histochemical and ultrastructural study.
A hepatocellular carcinoma which was predominately black was surgically excised from a noncirrhotic, asymptomatic 62-year-old white man. Brown-black, pigment granules, found only in the tumor cells, were histochemically and ultrastructurally identical to the hepatocellular pigment found in Dubin-Johnson syndrome. The latter pigment is thought to accumulate as a consequence of a genetically determined abnormality in the excretion of catecholamines and related substances. It is postulated that the pigment formation in this tumor developed via a similar, though epigenetic, mechanism. This occurrence has not been previously described. Unusual PAS-negative, globular cytoplasmic inclusions were also found in the tumor cells and these proved to be Mallory bodies by electron microscopy.
D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000032:analysis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003594:Cytoplasmic Granules / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D006801:Humans; D007566:Jaundice, Chronic Idiopathic / Q000473:pathology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000032:analysis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008875:Middle Aged; D010860:Pigments, Biological
D010860:Pigments, Biological