title: The prevalence and clinical significance of chromogranin A and secretogranin II immunoreactivity in colorectal adenocarcinomas.
abstract: Colorectal adenocarcinomas may display features of endocrine differentiation, shown by argyrophil stains and by the expression of endocrine markers such as chromogranin A. We investigated chromogranin A and secretogranin II immunoreactivity in a series of 208 carcinomas of the large bowel to assess the prevalence and clinical significance of endocrine differentiation. Tumors expressing endocrine markers were classified as low expressors (< than 1 immunoreactive tumour cell/mm2) and high expressors (> than 1 immunoreactive tumour cell/mm2). There were 33 (16%) carcinomas showing both chromogranin A and secretogranin II immunoreactivity: 11 tumours (5%) were high expressors. Endocrine differentiation was not related to the disease stage, tumour location, grade, DNA ploidy and p53 protein accumulation. In the entire series chromogranin A immunoreactivity did not provide prognostic information using univariate and multivariate analysis. A worse overall survival (P = 0.048) was demonstrated for the stage III patients with high expressor tumours, but there were only five patients in this group. The results of our investigation suggest that chromogranin A immunoreactivity is not a useful variable in the prognostic assessment of colorectal adenocarcinomas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomic Pathology (II), IRCCS Ospedale Maggiore, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ferrero
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Buffa
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pruneri
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Siccardi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pelagi
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Coggi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bosari
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D053379:Chromogranin A; D002864:Chromogranins / Q000032:analysis*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D011506:Proteins / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: C506150:CHGA protein, human; D053379:Chromogranin A; D002864:Chromogranins; D011506:Proteins