title: Immunohistochemical distribution of chromogranins A and B and secretogranin II in neuroendocrine tumours of the gastrointestinal tract.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Fahrenkamp
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wibbeke
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Winde
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ofner
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Böcker
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fischer-Colbrie
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Schmid
mesh_terms: D053379:Chromogranin A; D002864:Chromogranins / Q000032:analysis*; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D018358:Neuroendocrine Tumors / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D011506:Proteins / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D053379:Chromogranin A; D002864:Chromogranins; D011506:Proteins